Index of English and Welsh Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals
Based on a comprehensive survey in 1844, and extended to other
asylums.

The asylums index (on the right) lists asylums on this page (paupers in
1844) in yellow, and asylums on other pages in white. Some asylums outside
England and Wales are indexed in blue.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY

In the 1844 Report, all asylums apart from workhouses are listed, but only
some the workhouses with lunatic wards. This was because the Inquiry
Commission did not systematically visit workhouses in the way that it did
the other asylums.

After the 1844 Report, legislation ensured that public asylums
were provided for all areas of the country. These new public asylums are
shown in white on green.

National Health Service Psychiatric Hospitals were classified as "Mental
Illness" or "Mental Handicap". I am adding listings of the Mental Handicap
ones (1970s) on yellow.

Some hospitals will appear on the green and the
yellow, usually because they started as chronic asylums in the late
nineteenth century.

There are some asylums in grey that do not fit in to any of the above
categories, but are conveniently included on this page. These include
hospitals
not receiving paupers in 1844.

Stephen James, Head of Partnerships and Diversity, Ealing
Primary Care
Trust writes (26.8.2005) "There is a large range of [psychiatric] services
(including inpatient and forensic) provided by
West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT)
at the site. There is
also a museum, which I understand the Trust cannot open regularly because
of lack of funds".

"
The
burial grounds were used for building the Regional Secure Unit
(RSU). Any human remains that were uncovered were removed and later re-
interned in the "Garden of Remembrance". This is the small upright
rectangle one can see in the
Google aerial photo
-
If you compare it to
your old map
you can make the match easily. The garden of remembrance is the above the
left hand canal lock and directly above the lock's left-hand gate. To the
immediate right is a parking lot with white hospital vans and the RSU is
the complex further the right with the semicircular crescent." (Paul
Champion, email 12.8.2006)

Museum and Chapel of St Bernard's Hospital, Uxbridge Road, Southall.
Georgian. Formerly the Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum. "Not suitable for
under-16s".
I can sadly confirm that the Hanwell hospital museum has permanently closed
and the collection dispersed. Some of it went to the Gunnersbury Park
Museum
http://www.hounslow.info/gunnersburyparkmuseum
(prior permission is required to view as it is not on display) and some to
the Welcome Trust (I think this would have been the apparatus and other
clinical hardware) and the London Metropolitan Archives took the records
and papers.
(Paul Champion, email 12.8.2006)

Frank Bangay's
1985 poem "Food and
Shelter" (Naked Songs and
Rhythms of Hope pages 104-106) relates to experiences in
1976 to 1978 and "the revolving door system that we can get caught up in
once we enter the psychiatric system". The first three verses are:

So strange it is in this world today
The old people walk up and down with the shakes
It's part of their illness it is said
But there is a different explanation
They have been caught in an oppressive situation.

Dumped in Victorian institutions so long ago
Through situations in living hat we know and ignore,
But psychiatric drugs are no solution to human needs
They just leave people to pace corridors
Broken and defeated.

All we needed was food
All we needed was shelter
A roof above our head in hostile weather
A sanctuary to go to when times got tough
No, not these dark institutions
Tell me,
Do you know the true meaning
Of the word 'asylum?'

Spring 1978Springfield Words. A magazine produced in
Springfield Hospital, Tooting, South London by Kieran Brown, an
Occupational Therapist. Published
Frank Bangay's poem "Spring is Rising"
(written 1976). Frank was a patient at the time and helped Kieran with the
magazine. In 1979 Frank helped to organise a half-hour of poetry and songs
based round life in Springfield Hospital, featuring Kieran, Frank and Dave
Dorling. Dave was a patient who died in 1981. The event was staged at the
Troubadour and was well received. (Naked Songs and Rhythms of Hope
p.145)

"South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust was formed in
1994. The Trust has, for over
160 years, provided mental health services.
The Trust headquarters are at Springfield University Hospital in Tooting"
(source)

From the mid-1980s, Springfield Hospital (main building, above), now the
Trust's headquarters, served only people from Wandsworth and Merton. Today,
the Trust operates from 89 locations and is responsible for providing
complete mental health and social care services to the communities of
Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth, and more specialist
services to people throughout the United Kingdom.

First workhouse established in 1730, after
the Workhouse Test
Act. A local Act of Parliament, passed in 1775, enabled the
Vestry to build a new workhouse. Under this, the administration of poor
relief in the parish was conducted by Directors and Guardians of the
Poor who included thirty parishioners appointed by the Vestry. The old
building was used as an infirmary.

1792 new infirmary block for 300.

War
led an widespread increase in pauperism and St Marylebone was over-full
with 1,168 inmates in 1797. The Guardians resorted to out-relief without
demanding entry into the workhouse.

1815: Lord Robert Seymour, a Director of Poor for the
Parish of Saint Marylebone was "in the practice of visiting the insane poor
of that parish at Mr
Warburton's, Bethnal Green"

1844 Report page 87: "In the Lunatic wards of the Marylebone
Workhouse there were admitted in the years 1842 and 1843, 190 paupers
considered as insane. Some few of these, however, were stated to be only
under temporary excitement. The overseers of this parish could obtain
admission into the Hanwell Asylum for only twenty-seven of these 190
cases..."

Workhouse Masters:1842-1850 James Jones
1850-1851 W Barlow
1851-1856 George Whelan1856 Richard Ryan (the "woman flogger" of a London ballad)
1857 James Barnet

Bedford house.; Parish church of S. Martin in the field.; An house
belonging to Bethlem.

From thence is now a continuall new building of diuers fayre houses, euen
vp to the Earle of Bedfords house lately builded nigh to Iuy Bridge, and so
on the north side to a lane that turneth to the parish Church of S. Martins
in the field, in the liberty of Westminster. Then had ye an house wherein
somtime were distraught and lunatike people, of what antiquity founded, or
by whom I haue not read, neither of the suppression, but it was said that
sometime a king of England, not liking such a kind of people to remaine so
neare his pallace, caused them to be remoued farther of, to
Bethlem without
Bishops gate of London, and to that Hospitall the said house by
Charing
crosse doth yet remaine.

The report of the commissioners in
1632 confirms the
story told by Stow :

"There be also four other houses
situated near Charing Cross in the parish of St. Martin's in
the Fields, which have likewise time out of mind paid a small
rent of £3 per annum to the hospital, but when, or by whom,
given we find no record. Only we find by an ancient lease
made in the reign of
Henry VII that in the place where
these houses now stand was anciently an old house with
gardens and grounds thereunto belonging called the Stone
House, which Stone House we do likewise find, in a bill preferred
to the Exchequer in December of
9 James I
[1612] by
the mayor, commonalty and citizens of London against one
Agnes Garland, that it was sometimes employed for the
harbouring of mad and distracted persons, before such time
as they were removed to the present hospital of Bethlehem,
without Bishopsgate."

He refers to a definite assertion made by those who searched the muniment
room at Bridewell
in
1632 that:

"When the hospital was first employed to the use of distracted
persons appeareth not. The first mention we find
of it to be employed so was in
the beginning of the reign of
Richard II"

In the early nineteenth century, the City of London and its parishes had a
diversity of institutional resources to call on to accommodate pauper
lunatics. It controlled Bethlem
Hospital. St
Lukes was just outside its "square mile", as were the large
private pauper asylums at Hoxton and Bethnal Green. Many of the parishes had their
own workhouses and, in Hoxton and elsewhere, there were also several
private workhouses (pauper farm houses).

1377: the Bishopsgate Bedlam(St
Mary of Bethlem)1377 "Earliest known date of the use of Bethlem as an
asylum." (O'Donoghue
Chronology) ["Known" is
overstating]1380-1395 (about). A brotherhood of Skinners meet in the church
of St. Mary, Bethlehem, on Corpus Christi Day.
(O'Donoghue
Chronology)2.3.1403
Henry 4th issued a commission to two of the royal
chaplains to investigate charges made against the management
of the hospital. Their report mentions six insane patients, the
instruments of their restraint, and the hospital property at
Charing Cross. (O'Donoghue
Chronology)1403: visited: "during the 1403
visitation, the Porter stated that the Hospital then contained 'six insane
men and three others who were sick".
Andrews etc 1997
The History of Bethlem (Kindle Locations 2605-2606)].

1735
The
1997 London exhibition included "this famous image of Bedlam
painted by William Hogarth in
1735... sometimes ... thought to be a
faithful reflection of conditions ...
This is the last in a series of eight paintings illustrating 'A Rake's
Progress', a morality tale of the 1730s. In the first scene the rake (a
weak-willed hedonist) comes into some money. He spends it all on drink,
debauchery and dissolute pursuits. Finally his wretched life drives him mad
and the moral of the tale is that he ends up as a lunatic."

1804 to 1806 Urbane Metcalf a patient for the first time. His
case note on his second stay (1817-1818) say "he is frequently engaged in
the occupation of a tailor.. but I am informed that he gets his living out
of doors as a hawker and pedlar." In 1817 he considered himself heir to the
throne of Denmark, and was suffering as much from depression as delusions.
He was discharged cured.

"I spent twenty-two months in that dreary abode, Old Bethlem Hospital; not
more I believe than six weeks during that time I was incapable, through
indisposition, of judging the occurrences that daily took place. From the
supineness of the then physician, the cruelty of the apothecary, the
weakness of the steward, and the uncontrolled audacity of the keepers
[scenes took place that should have been discovered if only six humane
people a year had visited] but what was the fact? it stood in the midst of
the most populous city in Europe... was almost daily visited by some of the
most exalted characters in the country, as well as by feigners. Part of the
time, I occupied the next room to... Norris... the iron bar to which he was
fastened stood at the foot of my bed."

Begining of June 1804 Medical officers requesting further
confinement for James Norris, which might be secured by allocating two
cells to him, one for day, the other for night, with a door between. "but
on account of the way in which the Hospital was kept constantly filled by
patients from the Army and Navy, it was not thought advisable to adopt this
plan" [which] "would necessarily prevent some one patient from being
detained in the hospital" (25.6.1814, p. 378-379). [12.5.1815, John
Haslam was asked whether "nine or ten years ago" there were empty cells. He
replied "I think,
from the war, we had them pouring in from the Transport Board
and the War Office" (p.103)
16.6.1804 Governors sign order that James Norris "be put in the
iron apparatus, prepared for him" (p.382)
31.12.1804 186 patients
1805 44 patients admitted
Decline in numbers may have been due to deteriorating conditions of the
building making some parts uninhabitable. [At some time] many pauper
lunatics were moved to Warburton's in Bethnal Green31.12.1805 127 patients
1806 64 patients admitted
1806: Transport Board responsible for naval maniacs. See
description of relations with Hoxton House etc
31.12.1806 135 patients
1807 54 patients admitted
31.12.1807 126 patients
1808 85 patients admitted
31.12.1808 147 patients
1809 103 patients admitted
31.12.1809 143 patients
1810 92 patients admitted
31.12.1810 147 patients
1811 99 patients admitted
31.12.1811 148 patients
1812 88 patients admitted
31.12.1812 146 patients
1813 106 patients admitted
31.12.1813 143 patients
1814 93 patients admitted
31.12.1814: 119 patients.

1812-1815 Building the third Bethlem in St. George's
Fields, Southwark. (O'Donoghue Chronology)25.4.1814:Edward
Wakefield's
first visit
2.5.1814 Edward Wakefield's party visit the women's galleries
where they find a side room with ten chained patients clothed only in
blanket gowns. In a cell on the lower gallery they found William Norris, 55
years old, who said he had been confined about fourteen years. [Norris is
William in Wakefield's account (p.47 following) and James in the account by
the Governors of Bethlem (p.376 following).
7.6.1814:drawing
made of William Norris, in restraint1815: St George's Field Bedlam
and
criminal lunatics. Patients transferred 24.8.1815. (O'Donoghue
Chronology)Piddock, S. 2002:Linear design: wards over three full storeys and
an attic floor. Men and women accommodated in mirror wings on either side
of a central administrative section. Accommodation primarily in single
cells with a small spur ward on either side providing three cells for the
noisy. Arlidge, J.T. 1859 "argued that most, if not
all, lunatic asylums were based on the design of Bethlem Hospital, itself
based on the monasteries which had provided the early asylums for the
insane".
1815 and 1816 Parliamentary inquiries into the treatment
of patients. (O'Donoghue
Chronology)1816 Criminal blocks completed and occupied.
(O'Donoghue
Chronology)July 1816:
John Haslam and Thomas
Monro not re-appointed, but Thomas succeeded by his son,
Edward Thomas
Monro and another (jointly appointed) physician,
Sir George
Leman Tuthill (born 1772, died
1835). Reforms in the
management
introduced
about this time included keeping case notes on patients. The British
Library Catalogue lists To the Governors of the Royal Hospitals of
Bridewell and Bethlem, etc. [Asking for support in his candidature for
the post of physician to the Hospitals] by Sir George Leman Tuthill,
London, 1816.

1.6.1817 to 12.11.1818 Urbane Metcalf a patient for the
second time. On his release he published a pamphlet The Interior of
Bethlem Hospital which he sold around London (3d a copy?).

"I... became again a patient in the New Bethlem Hospital, and
am happy to be able to state that I found many alterations in the
provisions, and in other things that greatly added to the comfort of
patients, and to the honour of those governors through whom those
alterations were effected. I found there were four galleries, and that the
patients in one gallery had seldom access to those in another, except when
in the green yard, and the establishment to be considerably larger, but
not so many patients. I became Dr Tothill's patient, and was put in the
upper gallery, Thomas Rodbird keeper. I wish to observe that I have read
the printed rules of the establishment, and their principle is good, the
comforts of the patients are secured in every respect, but these
regulations are departed from and the keepers do just as they please."

"It is to be observed that the basement is appropriated for those patients
who are not cleanly in their persons, and who, on that account have no
beds, but lay on straw with blankets and a rug; but I am sorry to say, it
is too often made a place of punishments, to gratify the unbounded
cruelties of the keepers.

The present physicians, I think too supine: providence has placed them in
situations wherein they have it in their power greatly to add to, or
diminish from the comfort of the unfortunate; I have known patients make
just complains to them, which have been received with the utmost
indifference, and not at all attended to."

Urbane arranges his complaint under sub-headings of
the keepers and officers names, attempting to show how the institution is
being run for their benefit, at the expense of the patients

Friday 7.4.1843 Mr Hume (MP) objected to £4,122
being "granted for defraying the expense of maintaining criminal lunatics
in Bethlem Hospital". He visited them "many times at intervals, and there
were several...who appeared to him to be perfectly sane.
Mr Hatfield, among
others. Hume wanted a way that "offenders... who had their intellects
restored...should no longer enjoy comparative impunity".

"In the absence of any specific information ... we have entered
the Criminal Lunatics ... seventy Males and twenty Females, as Paupers. We
have also assumed that the remainder of the Patients ... generally, are of
Private class, although we have reason to believe that some of them are
maintained, wholly or in part, at the charge of Unions or Parishes"
(1844
Report
p.186)"

"This engraving shows the wards in the 1860s after efforts to make them
more
comfortable and cheerful. Patients were segregated and this engraving shows
one of the women's wards. It was furnished with flowers, ornaments and bird
cages.
(1997 London exhibition).
This picture was contrasted with
Hogarth and described as "a more realistic
illustration of the inside of the hospital 130 years later".

1881 Census: "Bethlem Royal Hospital", St Georges Cross,
Southwark - St George Martyr, Surrey. Resident Officer (Physician)
George Henry Savage, widower, aged 38, born Brighton. His housekeeper and
housemaid. A friend, Wilhelm Von Speyr (physician aged 28), from Basle in
Switzerland was visiting. William Edward Ramsden Wood: Medical Officer
(Physician), aged 31. His wife, children and servants. The Gate Porter and
his wife. Under Storekeeper. Cutter of Provisions. Assistant Hall Porter.
Edmund Smeeth, married, aged 63: Head Attendant Male Side and 15 male and
21 female "Attendants on Insane". A laundress. A housemaid. Another female
domestic servant. About 255 patients, only about 94 of whom were men. There
were also two "other" and one "visitor". The Gardener, Richard Whibley, and
his large family, lived at St Edwards Schools in St Georges Road. Two of
his daughters were training to be teachers.

Under the Dome became Orchard Leaves when the
hospital moved to Kent in 1930.

In the 1920s the Hospital's Governors concluded that "for a hospital for
the educated middle classes Southwark was not an ideal location", and began
looking for an alternative.

They found a 334 acre country house estate that straddled the boundary
between Croydon and Beckenham, Kent that had remained unsold at auction in
1920.

19th century Bedlam and 20th century war: The patients' wings and
most of the hospital at St George's Field were
demolished in 1931 and 1932. The administrative block and dome, and parts
of the 1837 and 1896 extensions remained as the Imperial War Museum, opened
in this building on 7.7.1936.

The new hospital was built on the 'villa system', with separate blocks for
"administration, occupational therapy, refractory patients, convalescent
patients, treatment and research, along with a nurses' home, chapel,
reception hospital, mortuary, workshops and a laundry"

Bethlem Royal Hospital: Prospectus, 1932 pages 6-7

...admission to this Monks Orchard Hospital carries with it the "Hall Mark"
of curability, and as such, whenever the word "Bethlem" is used, it means
"curable"'. Accommodation is provided for 250 patients - 141 ladies and 109
gentlemen - each of whom must be of a suitable educational status. Patients
who are eligible may be admitted either on a Voluntary, Temporary or
Certified footing, but in all cases treatment in the early stage of illness
is advisable and, in fact, desirable. Patients are thus graded according to
their varying type of symptoms, and the separate units, or houses, provide
appropriate care and treatment for their individual needs, which is further
enhanced by the provision of separate bedrooms, whenever deemed necessary.

about the 1930s "Bethlem kept a folder of marketing materials from
other institutions across the country" (Jennifer Walke)

1947 After army service, Felix Post (25.7.1913-23.3.2001) joined the
Bethlem
Maudsley Hospital, where he remained until he retired in
1978. The Felix
Post unit for older people is his memorial. There were many papers and
three famous books: The Significance of Affective Symptoms in Old Age
(1962), The Clinical Psychiatry of Late Life (1965) and Persistent
Persecutory States of the Elderly (1966)."
(source).

Felix Post wrote a short autobiographical account of the earliest days of
old age psychiatry in Britain called 'In the beginning'.

Claire Hilton in the
Dictionary of National Biography says
"Lewis
earmarked him to lead the proposed geriatric unit at the Bethlem Royal
Hospital 'I obeyed . to say without enthusiasm would be an understatement',
he later said (Post, 'In the beginning', 15). But within a few years any
reluctance to work with older people had been transformed into a
therapeutic optimism and a zeal for the specialism. His in-patient ward,
out-patient clinics, research, teaching, and the Gresham Club (a pioneering
after-care club for former in-patients) all flourished. But the medical
committee kept a tight rein on further developments, in particular not
permitting longer-term treatment of dementia within the hospital, much to
Post's chagrin"

After the war, Denis
Leigh
moved to the Maudsley Hospital from the neurological department of London
Hospital. He trained with Erich Guttman and C P Blacker and spent a year
at the Harvard Medical School. Returning to London in 1949, he was
appointed consultant at the Maudsley and Bethlem Hospitals. [Munk's Roll]
- "based primarily at the Maudsley; last Physician to the Bethlem"
(King's College archive)

1954 Robert Hobson appointed physician to Bethlem. He worked there
until 1974. The Tyson West Two inpatient unit was a general psychiatric
ward incrementally requisitioned for psychotherapy purposes. It closed in
1972 when the Charles Hood unit opened.

"At the Bethlem, he directed for some 20 years an in-patient
unit, run on therapeutic community lines, for the treatment of patients
with long-standing personality disorders, whilst also supervising and
teaching widely as well as carrying his own caseload" David A. Shapiro
The Independent 29.11.1999

1962 (Hospital Plan) "The postgraduate psychiatric
teaching hospital (the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital) is
situated in" [the South-East Metropolitan Region]. It is estimated that 20
per cent of its beds are used by patients resident in the Region and the
rest by patients from other regions" (p.139)
"It will be possible to reduce very considerably the size of non-
teaching hospitals for mental illness".
445 beds in 1960. Expected to have 445 beds in 1975.
No beds for mental subnormality in 1960. Expected to have 25 beds by
1975 (p.140)

1967 The Maudsley took over the management of the district
catchment
area service for the mentally ill.

"I suffered from depression and in 1974 ended up spending nine months at
the Maudsley Hospital,"
"It was awful and I don't want to go into it, but it would be fair to say
we did not make each other happy." Charlotte Johnson Wahl in the
Daily
Mail

1977 James Alexander Culpin
MacKeith (29.10.1938 - 5.8.2007) appointed consultant. Previously at
Brixton Prison and Broadmoor. He was given responsibility for developing a
new secure unit for offenders with mental disorders and after its
inauguration, in 1985, MacKeith continued to look after patients there
until he retired.

18.9.1980 "The opening of the Interim Medium Secure Unit
at Bethlem
in
1980 was preceded by discussions with local residents to allay fears.
Jimmy Savile OBE, television presenter, was invited to open the
unit, an event that, despite the bad weather, was regarded as 'a most
successful exercise in public relations'."
(
Andrews etc 1997
(Kindle Locations 2013-2006). - Opening of the Interim Medium Secure Unit
on Tyson West one ward, which was the predecessor to the
Denis Hill Unit.

A fifteen-bed interim secure unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital has been
functioning since October 1980. During the first 14 months 23 patients were
admitted; 16 were males and 7 were females. All had committed dangerous
acts but very few had a long history of criminal behaviour. The most common
diagnosis was schizophrenia. Personality disorder was not a predominant
feature in the majority of cases. Generally the aim is not to provide a
full rehabilitation programme but rather to emphasize assessment and
treatment of 'problem behaviour' until such time as an individual could
properly be managed in an ordinary psychiatric unit in one of the local
specialized 'area clinics' (Gisli H. Gudjonsson and James A. C. MacKeith
on the first fourteen months)

Special health authorities were to provide a national service to the NHS or
the public, under section 11 of the National Health Service Act 1977.

1983
Jennifer Walke's research finishes at 1983. She chose to study
the period between two mental health acts.
1930 corresponds to the new location for Bethlem. 1983
corresponds with the
start of the period in which asylums were closed, but Maudsley
and Bethlem were in a special position as they are a teaching hospital and
maintain in-patient facilities for teaching purposes. 1983
does not have the special significance for the hospital that 1930 does.

1995 the management of
Croydon
mental health services, including Warlingham Park Hospital, was taken over
by the Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust.
Warlingham Park was closed in March 1999, and the archives passed into the
care of the Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives
and Museum.

"The reputation locally was interesting. Because it didn't
serve the local community, nobody was really interested in
it...My take on it was the local community didn't seem to
get that interested in it until the Croydon services started
coming on site in the 1990s." (Current nurse quoted
Chaney, S. and Walke, J. 2015)

January 2000 Zoe Reed became Executive Director Strategy and
Business Development, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust,
having previously worke for Camden and then Watford Councils. She
approached
SIMBA about participation.

SIMBA was "one of a number of self-organised service user groups operating
in the trust"... "In the summer of 2000 we decided to focus on the black
service user's experience at the trust's annual general meeting in
September"... "Part of the trust's new way of operating is to organise
events or meetings so they feel more inclusive and open. The AGM was held
in a large open room, informally laid out with information stalls around
the edge. The only chairs were the half circle set out for SIMBA's use. The
formal business of the AGM took about ten minutes and we then turned our
attention to SIMBA's performance." (Mental Health Today August
2002)

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust -
web archive2.6.2001 to 2.7.2007
"South London and Maudsley NHS Trust provides mental health and
substance misuse services to people from Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and
Lewisham, and substance misuse services in Bexley, Greenwich and Bromley.
We also provide specialist services to people from across the UK.
Trust Locations: Many of our services are based at large sites,
including The
Maudsley,
St Thomas,
Guy's, Lewisham and the
Bethlem Royal hospitals.

Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and
MuseumMonks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BX
2001: "The small museum displays a remarkable collection of pictures
by artists who have suffered from mental disorder, including Richard Dadd,
Vaslav Nijinsky and Louis Wain: also the statues of 'Raving and Melancholy
Madness' from the gates of 17th century Bedlam, and other material relating
to the history of psychiatry. The archives contain records of the Bethlem
and Maudsley Hospitals from the sixteenth century on."

Clues for getting to the Museum of the Mind and Bethlem (Art)
Gallery One way is to go to Eden Park railway station, which is 30
minutes from London Bridge station, and then walk (15 to 20 minutes) or
take a 356 bus (towards Shirley).

Walk: Turn left as you come out of the station and go past the petrol
station on your left (the road splits into two with the petrol station in
the middle). Go to the roundabout and go right onto Monks Orchard Road and
the hospital is on that road on your right.

Recovery? "To what extent does recovery exist in the eye of the beholder
- either individual or
society as whole? Is it the ability to live a meaningful life even though
symptoms may
recur and need treatment? Is recovery merely the ability to conform to what
society
regards as acceptable behaviour? Or is it the ability to manage without
drugs, reliance
on services etc.?
Is recovery measurable anyway, by what standards, using what evidence?
How is recovery represented and by whom?"

"With the evolution of
modern paints artists and textile makers no longer have to
manufacture their own pigments and the link between colours and their
origin is disappearing. The communal and healing experience of harvesting
and producing dyes from plant materials has also largely been lost from
western society."

Plants grown in the hospital's Walled Garden. Patients harvest and prepare
pigments and then use them in the
Occupational Therapy art and textile studios to experiment with, colouring
fabrics, painting with watercolours and mark making.

Built by the Corporation of London at Stone near Dartford, Kent during
1862 to 1866. Designed by James Bunstone Bunning, the City's Clerk of
the Works (later City Architect and Surveyor).
Opened 16.4.1866. (Later additions made)
1881 census: Medical Superintendent: Octavious Jepson
(Widower);
Assistant Medical Officer: Frank William Marlow
From 1892, private patients were admitted.
From 1924 known as the City of London Mental
Hospital.
From 1924 able to receive voluntary boardersThe Committee of Visitors had originally been composed of the
Aldermen and Recorder as Justices, but under the Local Government Act 1888
the Justices powers and duties passed to the City's Court of Common Council
which appointed 12 of its members to be the Visiting Committee. 2 Women
were added to the committee from January 1931 (Under the Mental Treatment
Act 1930).
In 1948 the hospital was transferred to the Minister of
Health under the National Health Service Act 1946.
Became Stone House Hospital, Cotton Lane, Stone, Dartford, Kent,
DA2 6AU.
The hospital is due to close and will be converted into luxury
apartments.
The City of London Record Office has most of the archives (to
1948/1949), but some appear to be in the London Metropolitan Archive

"In 1909, it was vacated by the City of London Union who had decided to
concentrate their work at Homerton in the former East London Union
workhouse which had just been substantially enlarged.

After a period of standing empty, the building was re-opened on 1st March
1912 as Bow Institution. It was later renamed the City of London
Institution, then in May 1936 it was renamed St. Clement's Hospital which
it is still known as today."

I do not know at what stage it became a psychiatric hospital. It passed
from the City of London Poor Law Union to London County Council in 1930
and, about the same time (from about 1929), had, or was, a Mental
Observation Unit. It became part of the National Health Service in 1948.

January 1956 - December 1957 120 patients admitted to
Long Grove Hospital from Bethnal Green. 89 were traced for
Enid Mills' survey. Enid Mills gives the following background
information: If the "Duly Authorised Officer" is summoned to the East
London Area, the patient may be taken by ambulance to Long Grove or one of
six psychiatric observation units: Dulwich, Bow, Batteresa, Fulham, St
Pancras or Tooting".

1962 (Hospital Plan)St Clement's, Bow had 60 beds
in 1960. By 1975 expected have 140. There were no other inpatient
facilities named in the City/East End area, but in the whole North East
Metropolitan area there were 121 psychiatric beds in unnamed general
hospitals and it was planned to increase these to 1,460 by 1975.

St Clement's Hospital (from 1936) was administratively absorbed by
The London Hospital in 1968 and became The London Hospital (St
Clement's), 2A Bow Road, London, E3 4LL.

11.5.1987 Constitution of The Friends of the London Hospital (St
Clement's) adopted. Amended 5.9.1990 Object: "To relieve patients and
former patients of the London Hospital (St. Clement's) and other invalids
in the community who suffer from mental illness or the effects of mental
illness and generally to support the charitable work of the said hospital."

8.8.2013 to 18.8.2013 the "first ever"
Shuffle festival, curated by Danny Boyle, held on the
St Clement's site
. "Celebrated what this space means to local people, and what this
groundbreaking development could be". Winter Shuffle, "the second exciting
festival of events", took place at St Clement's in December 2013. Shuffle
were awarded Heritage Lottery funding to curate and produce an exhibition
covering the history of St Clements from it's beginnings as a workhouse to
the present day, which took place in February 2014.
In 2014 and 2015 the Shuffle festival was held in Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Park

Sidney Briskin
established the first Philadelphia
Association community by taking in young people who had been diagnosed as
schizophrenic into his home in Willifield Way, NW11. He steamed ahead with
the idea of a larger community when others (including Laing) waivered. He
found Kingsley Hall and participated in the
negotiations which resulted in the Lester sisters leasing it to the
Philadelphia Association at a peppercorn rent for five years.
Throughout the Kingsley Hall years (1965-1970) he was "a rock of stability
in turbulent times"

"Kingsley Hall was an intense heaven and the black depth of
hell. All that we had packed inside ourselves was there thrown into the
open. But we survived. Ronnie, Dr R D Laing, who died in 1989, was the
initial founder of it all and was the ultimate victim of his own genius.
"

September 1965 Joseph Berke moved into Kingsley Hall. He found Mary
Barnes was "like one of those half-alive cadavers that the Army liberated
from
Auschwitz
after the war" (p.243) - "... we did not want her to die ...
" (p.235).

Morton Schatzman (psychiatrist) and Vivien Schatzman were resident in 1968.
"Once he joined the community, the internal politics of the place were
cleared up" (Joseph Berks p.367). "With the help of Vivien he got the
community back on its feet after it had gone through a period of collective
depression and chaos" (Joseph Berks p.279)

11.2.1968 Death of Muriel Lester. Kingsley Hall was painted for her
memorial service and Mary Barnes diverted some of the paint to create on
her door
"a tree with bare branches, and roots, stretching up to God and rooted in
God" (p.296)

May 1970 Kingsley Hall closed as an asylum. Everyone left except
Mary Barnes, whose paintings "were got into store" but "I was
still alone in Kingsley Hall, I had not got anywhere to go". She found a
two
room attic flat near Hampstead Heath.
(Two Accounts, page 377 and Barnes and Scott 1989
p.13)

"8. THE REHABILITATION OF KINGSLEY HALL

Unfortunately, given habits of residents in the 'no-holds barred '
experiment, to howl at night or walk into local pubs and finish all drinks
on the table, the local community was largely hostile to the Philadelphia
project.

Windows were regularly smashed, faeces pushed through the letter box and
residents harassed at local shops.

By 1970, after five years of the Philadelphia Association, named after the
ancient city of brotherly love, Kingsley Hall was largely trashed and
uninhabitable.

In the 1980s Kingsley Hall was the set for the film "Gandhi". During the
filming Richard Attenborough united with the Kingsley Hall Action Group to
raise enough funds to carry out an extensive refurbishing. Many of the
local community contributed their skills and commitment to bring Kingsley
Hall back into a usable community centre.

Kingsley Hall was reopened in February, 1985, and has since gone on to be
used for activities ranging from youth groups, holiday outings or arts and
photography workshops, to advice work, wedding functions and educational
projects."

September 2012
The Residents tell their stories. The "residents" includes
psychiatrists and others who were not patients (inmates). Local people were
also interviewed. I am drafting an annotated list below

St Luke's Hospitalprobably not receiving paupers in 1844
17.6.1750
Meeting in the King's Arms in Exchange Alley that
decided to found a hospital: Founders Thomas Crowe, physician;
Richard Speed, druggist of Old Fish Street;
William Prowing, apothecary of Tower Street;
James Sperling and Thomas Light, merchants of Mincing Lane;
and Francis Magnus
(250 year
history
booklet)Opened
1751
Upper Moorfields, opposite Bethlem. (see sketch map). Took its name from the new
parish of St
Luke's

"The first patients were admitted in July 1751. In February 1753 the number
was increased to 57. From 1754 some incurable patients were readmitted and
for some time the numbers remained steady: 50 curable and 20 incurable
patients. The staff consisted of the keeper and his wife plus two male and
two female attendants." (250 year
history booklet)

1781
Samuel Foart Simmons (born 17.3.1750, died 23.4.1813)
became physician.

"From this time... he devoted himself almost exclusively to the treatment
of insanity... he attained a high reputation and from it accumulated an
ample fortune."

1782Thomas Dunston moved from being "senior basketman" at
Bethlem1786
moved to Old Street. (New building designed by George Dance and erected
1782 to 1784?) Mr and Mrs Thomas Dunston became Master and
Matron from 1786, previously (from 1782) they had been head man
keeper and head woman keeper. Their son, John Dunston,
apothecary, married the daughter of
Thomas
Warburton1810Benjamin Rush refered to "Dr Dunston"
"physician of St Luke's Hospital... eminent for his knowledge of diseases
of the mind"
February
1811
Samuel Foart Simmons resigned as physician.
Appointed consultant physician. His son did not wish to succeed him, but
did wish his university friend, Alexander Robert Sutherland, to succeed.
One of the unsuccessful candidates was George Leman Tuthill

"There are three hundred patients, sexes about
equal; number of
women formerly much greater than men; incurables about half the number. The
superintendent has never seen much advantage from the use of medicine, and
relies chiefly on
management.
Thinks chains a preferable mode of restraint
to straps or the waistcoat in some violent cases. Says they have some
patients who do not generally wear clothes. Thinks confinement or restraint
may be imposed as a punishment with some advantage, and, on the
whole, thinks fear the most effectual principle by which to reduce the
insane to orderly conduct. Instance: I observed a young woman
chained by the arm to the wall in a small room with a large fire and
several other patients, for having run downstairs to the committee-room
door. The building has entirely the appearance of a place of
confinement, enclosed by high walls, and there are strong iron grates to
the windows. Many of the windows are not glazed, but have iron shutters
which are closed at night. On the whole, I think St Luke's stands in need
of a radical reform." (Quoted Tuke, D.H. 1882 pages 89-90)

1813Mrs
Foulkes
prosecuted for keeping lunatics without a licence in a house
owned by Thomas Dunston.
1816
Evidence of John William Rogers (a surgeon dismissed by
Warburton)
that Thomas Dunston received £500 a year from Warburton
for recommending patients. Mr and Mrs Dunston had a joint salary from St
Luke's of £150 and St Luke's, at one time, had 700 people on its
waiting list. Dunston was also said to board lunatics in single houses. (Morris, A.D. 1958, apparently from 1816 Select Committee
Reports)1816 Death of Mrs
Dunston, the Matron. Thomas Dunston's title became "Steward"

31.3.1829
After setting fire to York Minster, Jonathan Martin was found not guilty on the ground
of insanity. He was confined in St Luke's, where he
died 3.6.1838

1829:John
Warburton MD elected physician
1830
Death of Thomas
Dunston, the Steward who had been in day to day charge of St
Luke's since 1782
From 1830 some attempt was made to separate patients according
to categories.
From
1833
recognised as important to provide some form of
occupational therapy for patients

"From 1833 it was recognised that it was important to provide some form of
occupational therapy for patients. This was another idea supported by Dr
Sutherland and also by John Warburton. Whilst this was a step forward they
nevertheless maintained some older forms of treatment such as the use of
occasional forcible restraint. This was said to be necessary because the
number of staff employed to care for the patients was relatively small, in
fact a ratio of 7 to 1."
(250 year history
booklet)

31.8.1833 Clementina and William John Stinton had a baby girl
who they christened Clementina Stinton at Saint Luke Old Street on
25.9.1833
1841 Census:
Henry Lambert, aged 24, Resident Apothecary.
William Jno Swinton, aged 37, Steward. Clementina Stinton, aged 39, Matron.
Eight year old daughter (same name as Mrs Stinton] and a second Matron
(Harriet Camerow?) aged
about 60. Apart from Henry Lambert, the above were all born in Middlesex.
Clementina Stinton, born Middlesex about 1834, was living in Lewes in 1881. The 1841 Census return was certified on
7.6.1841 by "Wm Jm Stinton, Steward of St Lukes Hospital for Lunatics".
1841Alexander Robert Sutherland
retired as physician and was succeeded by his son
AlexanderJohn Sutherland1842:
A chaplain was hired and a chapel was being built
1844:
Steward: Mr Stinton
1.1.1844: 93 curable patients, 84 incurable
Henry
Monro
was a physician from 1855 to 1882.
1860AlexanderJohn Sutherland
retired as a physician to St Luke's
From
1871
the Governors began to
examine the possibility of acquiring a site for a second building in the
country which could be used for convalescent patients.
1881 Census: George Mickley
(Physician, unmarried, aged 37)
[May previously have worked at Wyke House], Resident Medical
Superintendent; Francis
William Edward Hinners (unmarried, aged 23) and Edgar Vivian Ayre Phipps
(unmarried, aged 24) Resident Clinical Assistant Surgeons. Steward: Thomas
Collier Walker, aged 72, born Scotland. Matron:
Charlotte Eliza Walker, aged 65, born Douglas, Isle of Man (presumably
husband and wife), living with unmarried and unoccupied son and daughter of
Steward, both born in Scotland: George Lyell Walker, aged 47 and
Margaret Jane Walker, aged 40.
1882
The practice of having a husband a wife as Steward and
Matron of the hospital ended. (250 year history
booklet)In
1893
Nether
Hall, near Ramsgate, was taken over for the benefit of [convalescing]
female patients.
Initially the property was rented but in
1901
it was purchased by the
Hospital.
12.6.1904
to
5.11.1905painted postcards from Edward O. Cole
(patient).
The research for most of the information from 1871 to
the present was carried out by Jean Cullen, present owner of these
postcards.1910
the Hospital bought the Welders Estate near Jordans in
Buckinghamshire, with the intention of building a substantial convalescent
home. The project was never brought to completion, but an Encyclopedia
reference in 1922 refers to new buildings being constructed at
Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

"When St Luke's Hospital closed at the end of 1916,
all the remaining patients were either discharged to their homes or
transferred to other institutions. In 1922 it was suggested that a
psychiatric unit should be instituted by St Luke's in cooperation with a
General hospital. This led to the funding by the St Luke's charity of both
an out-patient clinic and a psychiatric in-patient ward at the Middlesex
Hospital.
This continued until the new St Luke's-Woodisde Hospital opened in
1930."
(Richard Morris to Jean Cullen)

1917? Site of Old Street St Luke's sold to the Bank of England.
Until later than 1958, the building was used as a printing works for Bank
of England notes.
1930
"Third St Luke's" opened in Woodside Avenue, Muswell Hill
after an "association with Middlesex Hospital" that began in 1923"
1930:Woodside Nerve Hospital1940:St Luke's Woodside Hospital for Functional Nervous
Disorders1948St Luke's Woodside, Woodside Avenue, Muswell
Hill,
London, N10 3HU
2001 250 year history booklet

Batavia Hospital ShipMoored in the Thames, off Woolwich, this ship received naval patients
from
Hoxton House when they were considered fit for convalesecence.
It also sent patients to Hoxton House and Bethlem.

Friern
Cemetery: In
1883 a memorial to an unknown pauper
lunatic was erected in the grounds of Colney Hatch Asylum. "2,696 inmates
of the asylum were buried here from 1851-1873. The inscription recording
the fact was removed after the advent of the Mental Health Act 1959 to
unburden the hospital of its past. From 1873 patients were buried in the
neighbouring Great Northern Cenetry 'where by a considerate arrangment of
the visitors, funerals are privately conducted, and not in forma
pauperis (Chaplain's report, CHA 1877) Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I.
1974 p.69)

1889 Became a London County Council asylum

1893: A small room was set aside "for microscopic observations" to
supplement gross anatomical findings by histological examination. See Claybury. In 1915 the
Board of Control reported "under consideration the provision of
a
laboratory for clinical and pathological research". In 1924 it
reported "a useful laboratory" staffed by a specially trained male nurse
and supervised by an assistant medical officer. Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I. 1974 pp.165-166

Became Colney Hatch Mental Hospital from
1918 to 1937. "The Cockfosters extension on the Piccadilly
line.. started at a ... slow pace. In
February 1934
Arnos Grove station had served only 500,000 passengers.The proximity of a
mental hospital, sewage farm and cemetery were blamed for hindering
development." Colney Hatch was renamed Friern Mental Hospital in
1937. But even in 1955, when my
grandfather
became a patient, it still had to be explained that the new phrase was
"mental hospital", and that this meant a different attitude to the one
perpetuated by we schoolchildren calling one another "Colney Hatch cases".
From 1959 it was Friern Hospital, Friern
Barnet Road, New Southgate, London, (N11 3BP)
(map).
1958 Halliwick House opened in the grounds of Friern
1965 Lionel Kreeger appointed consultant psychiatrist and
psychotherapist at Halliwick Hospital. Worked with Pat de Mare to establish
a
therapeutic community culture employing small and large groups.
He moved to the
Paddington Centre for Psychotherapy in 1973
1967Sans Everything1968
Camden Association for Mental HealthIn 1971 Friern
Hospital, had 1,862 beds.
Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I. 1974,
Psychiatry for the Poor is a substantial history of the asylum from
1851 to 1973, and one of the best insights into asylum life.
1980Friern 2000 "celebrating the hospital's
achievements and looking forward to the next millennium. LMA,
H/12/CH/A/30/6." (Barbara Taylor)16.7.1981 Care in the Community Green Paper
North East Thames
closure plansJuly 1983 "the hospital learned its fate from a televised
news
announcement" (Barbara Taylor)1984
Camden Mental Health Consortium established in response to the
planned closure
of Friern
1985? John Hart's first period in Friern.
Testimonies Project
1987
Islington Mental Health Forum "now well established". They
"have started a Friern Interest Group which meets at the hospital".
1988 and 1989
Barbara Taylor's periods as an in-patient.
1989 "I entered Friern for the third time and
remained there for over six months. My stints in Friern came midway
through the closure process...
Most of the ward nurses had left and been replaced by agency staff.
The ward across the stairwell from mine was empty, having been burned
out in a major fire shortly before I arrived. Corridors were sealed off,
therapy rooms locked up, the old apple orchard was choked with weeds.
The kiln in the pottery workroom broke down and was not repaired; a
little pot that I left in the firing queue was thrown away.
Yet for me Friern was truly an asylum. I entered it on my knees:
I could no longer do ordinary life, and giving up the struggle was an
incalculable relief. My home in the hospital was a locked acute ward
with a deservedly violent reputation: a Dickensian barrack of crumbled
brickwork and peeling walls, reeking with fag smoke and teeming with
ghosts; but for me it was a sanctuary. I settled in quickly, got to know
people, acquired a lot of new survival skills... I was very
wretched most of the time, and often frightened, but I felt safe from what
I feared the most: myself. This was a huge plus, and I wanted to stay
forever... By the end of the
1980s, I was deeply embedded in the world of the chronically mentally
ill. I had lost my home, and was living in a psychiatric hostel. When I was
not in Friern, I was at the Whittington day hospital (later made notorious
by
Clare Allen in her bestselling novel
Poppy Shakespeare) or at the Pine
Street Day Centre in Finsbury. I still had friends and connections from
earlier days, but I spent most of my time with other mental health users
with whom I often felt more comfortable than with old chums"
(Barbara Taylor)6.7.1990Adjournment Debate House of Commons23.1.1991 "After Friern": A meeting to discuss the health
authority proposals for re-accomodating Friern patients after 1993"
organised by Haringey Community Health Council Mental Health Forum.
Friern
closed in
April 1993. It is a listed building which has been
converted
into
luxury apartments.
At one time it was considered as a
site for Middlesex
University.

November 2002
Barbara Taylor's third ex-patient visit: "more than two-thirds
of the flats had been sold, and business was brisk". "I'm sure I'm not the
only former inmate who has turned up at Princess Park Manor's sales office,
kitted out for normalcy, heart tip-tapping; although at least I had an
alibi, a book-in-prospect about the rise and demise of the British asylum
system."

8.5.2003
Eve Blake [Barbara Taylor]ú Diary: Friern Hospital
London Review of Books 8.5.2003
- "Last November I put on a new suit and went to view some luxury flats in
the North London suburbs. Princess Park Manor on Friern Barnet Road" .

1.11.2006 Visit by Andrew Roberts to Princess Park Manor: A
billboard advertises
"Individually designed quality apartments set in thirty acres of stunning
parkland". The parkland is the ground in front of the asylum, which is
planted with trees. Barnet Borough have created Friern Village Park
out of the land in front of the west wing. This is open to the public daily
from dawn to dusk. The Middlesex coat of arms above the asylum says "East
Saxons"

Cheryl's manorEvening Standard27.8.2014 - An item
noticed by
Joe Kelly. "Cheryl" is a pop-star who married an English
footballer, Ashley Cole, in July 2006. They presumably had flats in
the old asylum before that.

This extract from a 1911 encyclopedia shows how the
provision of "asylums" was only a small part of the Board's functions:

"The Metropolitan Asylums Board, though established m 1867 purely as
a
poor-law authority for the relief of the sick, insane and infirm paupers,
has become a central hospital authority for infectious diseases, with power
to receive into its hospitals persons, who are not paupers, suffering from
fever, smallpox or
diphtheria. Both the Board and the County Council have
certain powers and duties of sanitary authority for the purpose of epidemic
regulations. The local sanitary authorities carry out the provisions of the
Infectious Diseases (Notification and Prevention) Acts, which for London
are embodied in the Public Health (London) Act 1891. The Board has asylums
for the insane at
Tooting Bec
(Wandsworth), Ealing (for children);
King's
Langley, Hertfordshire;
Caterham,
Surrey; and
Darenth, Kent.
There are
twelve fever hospitals, including northern and southern convalescent
hospitals. For smallpox the Board maintains hospital ships moored in the
Thames at Dartford, and a land establishment at the same place. There are
land and river ambulance services."

"St Lawrences in the 1970s became known as you say through
Joseph Deacon's
book and film
Tongue Tied, and from the documentary
Silent Minority.
Joseph lived in MC1 (Male C1) and spent a lot of his time on the cosy
verandah. Across the airing court was another long verandah where the
residents seen in Silent Minority spent their aimless days (MD1). MC1 was a
well run homely ward. MD1 was a stark place. Just 10 yards of court
separated them. And on the top floor above MD1 was MD3, the lock up ward.
Joseph would have heard the shouts from up there when one of the residents
went 'up the wall.' 'You'll be sent to D3' was a threat to patients from
other wards. Most of the time it was relatively calm. It was a lock up
ward, but many of the residents were let out unsupervised to go to work at
the concrete works - making slabs and gnomes." (Alastair Fear, who met
Joseph Deacon when working at St Lawrences in 1975-1976, and who also
worked there, for a while, about the time of Silent Minority)

Database information that Banstead became a Surrey asylum is incorrect:

"Banstead Asylum was built and maintained by the Middlesex Justices prior
to 1889. It became the responsibility of the London County Council on 1
April 1889" (London Metropolitan Archives Catalogue), which is confirmed by
the following:

1900 89 year old patient's death certificate shows him as dying
from "chronic brain wastage" in "the London County Asylum, Banstead".
(information from Richard Seymour)

1897/1898 Cheam Parish Council: Water and sewerage file -
Correspondence re contamination of water supply from Banstead asylum burial
ground
1.1.1927: 1,976 patients of whom all but 142 were Rate
Aided.
845 were men, 1,131 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 20.0%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 7.1%
In 1960s and 1970s (about), part of Kensington
and Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority (West London)
1982:Plans for closure and concentration of
services on HortonOctober 1986 Closed
Demolished
1989"High Down and Down View, two state-of-the-art prisons, were built on
the site in the early 1990s"
Archive link

In 1889 Middlesex lost much of
its population to the new London County Council. There was a massive
reorgansiation of London asylums, which I am still trying to work out.
Hanwell and Friern and Banstead became London
County Council asylums.
The
Surrey County
Asylum
at Springfield became the Middlesex County Asylum. It may have been
the only one until 1905See Middlesex 1939

Claybury Asylum at Woodford Bridge in Essex was
opened in 1893. It was the fifth London
County Council asylum.
Built: 1889-1893
Architect:
George Thomas HinePeter
Cracknell describes as the first
Compact Arrow design.
Edward Sackett
was transferred from Brookwood in September 1896, and died from heart
disease on 14.10.1899.
Joseph Stockton
died 20.10.1896
at
London County Lunatic Asylum, Ilford, which was also the name of the
asylum in 1900 (Registration District: Romford, Sub-District:
Ilford)
on the death certificate of Mr Hopson (55 years old), an upholsterer
formerly of 19 Bee Hive Brick Lane, Whitechapel, who died there. His
certificate was signed by the Medical Superintendent, Robert Youes (or
Young?) [information from Joan Robblee].

The Central Pathology Laboratory Commissioners in Lunacy
1896 quoted
Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I. 1974 p.165: "Even
when the new Laboratory has been brought into use by the Specialist
Pathologist for the County of London
[Dr F.W. Mott at Claybury], there will
still remain much useful work of this nature to be done in the several
Asylums, for which due provision should be made". See
Friern1899 Start of Archives of Neurology from the Pathological
Laboratory of the London County Asylums, Claybury, Essex Published:
1899-1907 and 1909-1934

Journal of Mental Science, April 1900, 46, 393: At
Claybury Asylum provision is made for private patients who can claim a
settlement in the county of London at a charge of 30 shillings a week, and
for others at a charge of £2
(See 1890 Act)1901 or 1902 Dr Macmillan, a medical officer at Claybury,
read a paper on The History of
Asylum Dysentery at Claybury to a meeting of the Southern
Eastern Division of the Medico-Psychological Association. Dr Macmillan,
himself, died of asylum dysentery soon after.
(source)

1901 A department of Experimental Psychology established at
Claybury with W.G. Smith (1866-1918) as director. Smith, a
philosophy graduate (1889) of Edinburgh University, studied for his PhD
(1894) under the pioneer of experimental psychology,
Wilhelm Wundt. He worked for several years in
the United States, including a period with
William James. Smith and
Mott were founder members of the
Psychological Society in the same year that the Experimental
Psychology unit was established at Claybury. In 1905, Smith became the
first lecturer in psychology at Liverpool University and in
1906, he became
the first Combe lecturer in General and Experimental Psychology at
Edinburgh University.
(external link to biography)

More Patients Willing to go to ClayburyIt's a Fact by Alan SymesThe [Ilford] Recorder, Thursday, March 11th 1965

There has been no appreciable decrease in the number of patients being
treated each year at Claybury Hospital which
I is costing more than £1 million a year to run.

More people needing psychiatric treatment are becoming willing to accept
early hospital admission where it is necessary

""The number of beds is being decreased to allow better bed
spacing, but the number of patients being treated is not decreasing; the
group secretary, Mr Wilfred Mitchinson, informs me"

The causes of mental illness are complicated and there is still much that
is not understood. In some cases environment and the increased pace of the
20th century life plays a part.

Mental disorders cost the National Health Service in England and Wales more
than £130 million a year, about one-eighth of the total cost of the
service, reveals a report issued by ~the Office of Health Economics.

Cost £109 million

The report states that together the 200,000 mentally ill and mentally
subnormal patients in hospital, along with those treated in out - patient
departments, cost about £109 million in 1963.

Between 1949 and 1960 the annual number of admissions to psychiatric
hospitals more than doubled from 55,000 to 114,000. Although the total
number of patients was rising until 1954 - the year which saw the
introduction of tranquillisers the number of in-patients declined since
then, from: 148,000 to 135.000 by 1960.

Claybury's admission rate' tended to follow the national trend.
Admissions nearly doubled between 1949 and 1960, from 861 to 1,587. The
overall number of in-patients between 1954 and 1960 declined from 2,217 to
2,121.

'Great - increase'

The fall in the number of inpatients since 1954 was not entirely due to the
development of tranquillisers. New methods of management of patients, new
rehabilitation, schemes and changed staff attitudes were equally important.

Last year there were 1.488 admissions at Claybury and 1.897 in-patients
were accommodated.

There has been a "great increase" in short-stay admissions since 1950. Many
more patients are now well enough to stay outside hospital with support,
which may include occasional short readmissions.

Once rehabilitation became available Claybury experienced a dramatic drop
in long-stay patients.

Claybury has a universal reputation for its therapeutic community methods
of treatment and practice and receives visits from people from all over the
world interested in how the work has been developed.

Rising' prices

The hospital has a staff of 2,027, including 19 doctors and 564 nurses, 451
of whom are full time. In addition to their duties at Claybury the
doctors do out-patient work in general hospitals.

Cost of running Claybury is increasing year by year due mainly to rising
prices and increases in salary scales. Other factors are the higher
standards being provided for patients and the increased number of short-
term admissions.

Problems are being experienced at the hospital due to staff shortages. Most
student nurses require residential accommodation and there is insufficient
available for them within the hospital. Also. those wishing to live outside
are faced with a shortage of suitable accommodation at. rents they are able
to afford.

Another problem is public transport. It is considered that the bus services
covering the hospital could be improved and made more reliable, making it
easier for staff to arrive on time for duty.

In 1898, the first Labour controlled local council was elected -
West
Ham.

The building of a new lunatic asylum and the declaration of May 1st as
a public holiday are listed amongst its many achievements
(external link). 680 patients were
transferred from the
Essex County Asylum
in 1901. On 18.3.1920 a stampless viewcard of Calais was
addressed to West
Ham Mental Hospital. George
Jacomb
of Plaistow died 8.1.1931 at West Ham Corporation Mental
Hospital Goodmayes Essex. He left
£1,056 9s. 1d to be administered by
Ellen Mary Jacomb spinster. There was a stationary steam engine (derelict
in 1980) here that was
manufactured by Belliss & Morcom Ltd. of Birmingham in 1938.
November 1969Joan Martin's account beginsNew adult acute mental health facilities were being built at Goodmayes
Hospital, to open March 2002, and "re-provide" 107 beds for people
living
in Redbridge - 62 for adults with acute mental illness, thirty beds
for the elderly mentally ill and fifteen psychiatric intensive care beds.
"Goodmayes is getting its first new facilities for seventy years". "The
unit will have all single bedrooms, some
with en-suite facilities, and has fully taken into
account Government guidelines on sex
segregation". "Patients will really feel the benefit of receiving their
services in a purpose built, modern and light unit." Mental Health
Matters North East London Mental Health Trust. Issue 9, July 2001.

1890? London County Council bought all the land belonging to the
Manor of Horton in Epsom, Surrey, to develop a complex of asylums which was
to become the largest in Europe. The five hospitals built were

The usual approach to the institutions, when they were built, may have been
from Epsom station via Chase Road to Hook Road, then up Hook Road to Long
Grove, and so on. This is suggested by the houses along Hook Road going
north from the railway bridge. Dates and architectural features suggest
that many of these were built as homes for the staff. Near the bridge there
are several with the date 1896, when the Manor was being built. Then there are
ones dated 1902, when Horton was opened. These are followed by ones
dated 1903, when Ewell Epileptic Colony was opened.

1925: The Branch Secretary of the Epsom branch of the
National Asylum Workers Union was Mr R.C. Baker, who lived at 20 Court Farm
Gardens, [Manor Green Road], Epsom [post code now KT19 8SL]. This is in the
back streets in the crook of Hook Road and Long Grove Road - south of the
cricket ground.
The Manor (which was a certified institution, not an asylum) had
its own branch..

The Manor Asylum(Epsom) or Manor House at Horton was
originally meant as a temporary asylum, whilst Horton Asylum was built.
Building may have begun in 1896. The asylum was opened in
1899. It consisted of the existing Manor House (restored) for staff,
and corrugated iron buildings for patients. The scheme was disapproved by
the Lunacy Commission, but approved by the Home Secretary.
The architect was William C
Clifford Smith, the Asylum Committee's chief engineer.
It was opened for 700 female patients of the "comparatively quiet and
harmless class". (Cochrane, D.
1988 p.257)
Journal of Mental Science, April 1900, 46, 393:
Provision made for about 60 female private patients at a weekly charge of
about 15/- (not including clothes)
(See 1890 Act)By 1901 approval was given for extra accommodation
for 110 male patients required for manual labour power.
(Cochrane, D.
1988 p.257)
Became
The Manor
Certified Institution
from 1921 to an unknown date.
1925: The Branch Secretary of the Nation Asylum Workers Union at
Manor (Epsom) was Mr George G. Galey who lived at 4 Percy Cottages,
Elm Road, Claygate (about three mile away in a straight line - perhaps he
cycled). The other four hospitals seemed to have been one branch (Epsom).
1930: Manor Certified Institution. Medical superintendent:
Edward Salterono Litteljohn. Assistant medical officer: Bridget Coffey.
Chaplain: Rev Edward John Hockly. Clerk: C.W. Poulton. House Steward: W.A.
Francombe.
(Kelly's directory)Became The Manor, Horton Lane, Epsom, KT19 8NL.
1962 (Hospital Plan) 1,200 beds in 1960. Plans to rebuild
by 1971. By 1975 expected have 500 mental subnormality patients, and there
to be another 700 in St Ebbas (converted) and 500 in "Horton new hospital".
1971The Manor, Epsom 1,067 beds, 1,034 patients on
31.12.1971. 16% in dormitories with over fifty patients.
(60% of adults sleeping in groups of less than 30. 93% of children sleeping
in groups of less than 20, but the other 7% of children in dormitories of
30 or more). 25 security beds in locked wards.
1979Manor Hospital Mid-Surrey Health District's mental
handicap hospital with 800 beds
July 1998efforts to stop developmentMarch 2002Progress report on redevelopment, and plans for other
sites.
Some ex-patients have been rehoused on Ethel Bailey Close. The rest of
the site has been entirely redeveloped into around 340 new houses & flats.
Re-development completed about 2000. Peter Cracknell's photographic tour2003
use: "Housing"

In addition to
the buildings on the main site, The Manor had a large annexe called
Hollywood Lodge on
the triangle of land between West Park Hospital, Horton
Lane and Christ Church Road."
Christine Lawes

The Manor Farm In reponse to the question "was there a farm on the
land to the south?",
Christine Lawes wrote "There ... was a self-sufficient market
garden, worked by the
patients in times past.
It bordered
Horton Lane. Up to about 1994 it was still a thriving organic
market garden and sold fruit and vegetables to the public. After that date
it gradually became more difficult to maintain as the residents were being
moved out. At least up to a couple of years ago it had become more of a
garden centre, selling plants to the public from some specially converted
barns. I believe the garden centre is probably still there.

Horton Asylum, at
Epsom was opened in 1902.
Simon Cornwall:
Horton Asylum, Epsom, Surrey (Epsom Cluster number 2)
Originally: Seventh London County Council Asylum. Built: 1902
Architect:
George Thomas Hine (replica of
Bexley Heath
Asylum)2,000 beds - 900 for men and 1,100 for women, although at first men
exceeded women.
1906 Dr Bryan, first Medical Superintendent, dismissed
1913 Horton Light Railway opened
Horton War Hospital (1915-1918);
Horton Mental
Hospital (1918-1939);
1920 John Robert Lord's
story and reflections on the war hospitalAfter the war, Horton was adapted to cater almost exclusively for
women.
1922 1,605 patients - 187 men and 1,418 women
1924
Malarial therapy unit opened.
May 1928
Alexander Walk, a medical officer at Horton, appointed by Lord
as his assistant editor on the Journal of Mental
Science. He was co-editor from 1930 to
1973 and thereafter served as associate editor until Easter
1982
1.1.1927: 1,941 patients of whom all but 190 (all female)
were Rate Aided.
Only 270 were men. 1,671 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 23.2%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 5.3%
1930 John Robert Lord, medical superintendent - The assistant
medical officers were: William Drew Nicol, Frederick Oliver Walker, Gordon
Frank Peters, John Joseph Laws, and Miss Dorothy Preston Hytch. Miss Mary
Mitchell Thorburn was matron. Rev Edward John Hockley was chaplain, Sydney
Carter Boswell, clerk, and Alfred Henry Gwinnell, house steward.
(Kelly's directory)9.8.1931 Lieut.-Colonel John Robert Lord, C.B.E., M.D.,
F.R.C.P.E., Medical
Superintendent, Horton Mental Hospital (L.C.C.) died at the hospital
(Nursing Times) -
Obituray in British Medical Journal1931 William Drew Nicol Medical
Superintendent, Horton Mental Hospital to 1951(Munk's Roll)22.1.1935George Pelham (Trimmer), patient(archive)
to
28.8.1939, when he was transferred to Longrove, probably because Horton
became a general hospital serving the forces.
Death Certificate of George Trimmer
1939 to 1949: Horton War Hospital1949: returned to Mental Hospital. It became Horton
Hospital, Long Grove
Road, Epsom.
1950
Henry Rollin medical superintendent [May be incorrect. His
obituaries says "from 1948
until 1975, he was the Deputy Superintendent of Horton Hospital". See
Epsom and Ewell History Explorer1962 (Hospital Plan) 1,524 patients in 1960. Possible to
be closed by 1975. (But 500 beds in "Horton new hospital" for mental
subnormality)
In 1960s and 1970s (about), part of Kensington
and Chelsea and Westminster Area Health Authority (North East
Health District). At this time, someone with a mental crisis in an office
in West London, could find themselves taken to Horton, to the south of
London.
Paddington Day Hospital established for
rehabilitation.
Summer 1965
"Unfortunately, the doctor decided to send me to Horton Hospital for a
rest" - (Joan Hughes)1966 "I begged my GP to get me into hospital so as I could get
some care and help" Daniel
Morgan1971 1,587 beds, 1,438 patients on 31.12.1971. 23% in
dormitories with over fifty patients. 17 beds in a specialist
psychogeriatric unit.
1979
1,203 beds
Autumn 2002: reported closed and empty (map), but in good condition.
Redevelopment has now started. (See
Peter Cracknell's photographic tour (2003)).
The developers have renamed it Livingstone Park. This name is not
recognised by the council or the post office. A small modern enclave called
Horton Haven is used by about 50 ex-patients. 460 houses and flats and a
small retail store are planned for the rest of the site.
July/August 2003fireDecember 2003Convenience store wanted for siteThere is a book: Asylum, hospital, haven: A history of Horton
Hospital

"Horton Cemetery. In
memory of those buried in these grounds between 1899 and
1955". Words
in black on a simple white plaque fixed to the railings of a field
surrounded
by trees on Hook Road, near the junction with Horton Road.
It was a cemetery for patients from
all five institutions. "... a strip of
land in the elevated and well-drained north-east corner of the estate was
fenced off to serve as an unconsecrated burial ground for pauper patients".
(Cochrane, D.
1988 p. 258).
(See George Pelham).
The "burial ground ... was sold many years ago by the NHS
to a developer. All the headstones were removed ...
It has always been referred
to as
Horton Cemetery" (email 2004). Jane Lewis,
Surrey History Centre (email 27.10.2005) advises that
some burial records survive at the History Centre under reference
6336/1-2. They cover the dates 4.4.1902 to 29.3.1955. A burial plan of the
area does not seem to have survived and the removal of the headstones has
now made it impossible to try and find exactly where the original plots
were sited,
re-burying bones -
a more detailed report - This says the
last funeral took place in 1958. - but this may be a mistake - Each grave
"usually housed three or four bodies", Headstones were removed before it
was sold in 1983 by the North West Thames Regional Health Authority to
"Marque Securities, a development company in Kingswood". Its bids to
develop have been refused by the Epsom and Ewell
Council.

Horton Farm The triangle of land south of the cemetery, bordered by
Hook Road, Long Grove Road and Horton Lane, has a building called Horton
Farm. It is possible that the whole triangle was the farm estate.
St Ebbas farm is on the other (west) side of Hook Road.
Long Grove and West Park had their own farms (below).
One website says each hospital had its own
farm.

Ewell
Epileptic Colony(Epsom)
opened in 1903Simon Cornwall:
Built: 1903.
Architect: William C
Clifford Smith
(Epsom Cluster number three)
Dispersed form.
Charles Hubert
Bond was medical superintendent from 1903 to 1907.
Ewell (County of London) War Hospital or
Ewell Neurological Hospitalfor the care and treatment of soldiers and pensioners suffering from
neurasthenia or loss of mental balance (Hansard 12.4.1920)1927 Not listed as a mental hospital, so presumably still Ewell
Epileptic Colony. This epileptic colony is not mention in Jones and Tillotson's pamphlet on epileptic
colonies. They do mention that the Metropolitan Asylums Board established
units for epileptics at
Edmonton
and
Brentwood,
and that these were taken over by London County Council in 1935. The
conversion of Ewell Colony to a Mental Hospital may have taken place
as part of this process.
Became Ewell Mental
Hospital and then St Ebba's Hospital Hook Road, Epsom, KT19 8QJ
1962 (Hospital Plan) 865 mental illness patients in 1960.
700 mental subnormality patients expected by 1975. Later in 1962? it
ceased being a mental illness hospital and became a mental
subnormality hospital.
1971 611 beds, but 616 patients on 31.12.1971.
38% of adults in dormitories with over thirty patients. No dormitories
with
over fifty patients.
1979St Ebbas Hospital was Sutton and West Merton Health
District's largest mental handicap hospital with 629 beds - (outside
District).
A Parents and Relatives Group was formed about 1987 to campaign
for retention of a village community. external weblink - August 2002
There is now (2004) a "village campus" with about 60 residents
in a mixture of old and new houses. The council has approved construction
of 280 houses and flats on the rest of the site.

David
Cochrane
says that London County Council replaced the
name "asylum" by "hospital" in 1918. If this is so, the first name
for West Park
(given below, from the
Hospital Database) was never used.

West Park Asylum at
Epsom
was opened in 1921. Referred to
by David
Cochrane as "the eleventh and the last great asylum built for
London's insane".
Simon Cornwall:
Architect:
William C
Clifford Smith. Built: 1912-1924. Eleventh
London County Asylum. (Epsom Cluster number five)
Dispersed form on an echelon planBy 1929 it
was known as West Park Mental Hospital1930 West Park Mental Hospital (LCC). Medical superintendent:
Norcliffe Roberts. Deputy medical superintendent: Edwin Lancelot Hopkins.
Clerk: L. Clerke. House Steward: J.J. Agar.
(Kelly's directory)From about 1950,
West Park Hospital, Horton Lane, Epsom, KT19 8PB.
1962 (Hospital Plan) 2,045 patients in 1960. 1,000
expected in 1975
1971 1,724 beds, 1,580 patients on 31.12.1971. 39% in
dormitories with over fifty patients. (Only 8% of patients sleeping in
groups of less than 30). 20 beds in a regional alcoholic unit. 17 beds in a
specialist metabolic unit.
1979
Mid-Surrey Health District had its headquarters in the
hospital. West Park had 1,217 beds (mental illness and geriatric). Manor
Hospital was the local mental handicap hospital. Horton, Long Grove and St
Ebbas were not local hospitals.
Autumn 2002: reported closed and empty, but in good condition.
(map). The local council has produced its own
development brief for the site, which the NHS has yet (2004) to
approve. The site
will retain facilities for patients with challenging behaviour and the
cottage hospital, which is only about twenty years old.
Peter Cracknell's photographic tourPeter Cracknell's new siteJune 2003sale of land, including West Park,
Horton and part of St Ebbas4.7.2003
plans to vary transport30.9.2003fireOctober/November 2003consultation on plansMarch 2004:proposal for new hospital

The Tavistock Clinic started in Tavistock Square in 1920. "In 1920,
under its founder Dr Crichton-Miller's leadership, the Clinic made a
significant contribution to the understanding of the traumatic effects of
'shell shock'".

July 1932 Association for the Scientific Treatment of
Criminals renamed the Institute for the Scientific
Treatment of Delinquency

1933 The Psychopathic Clinic established as the clinical arm of the
Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency, its aims were
assessment, diagnosis and
research in this area".
(source) - See
75th anniversary history

February 1946
John Bowlby joined the Tavistock
Clinic to set up the Children's Department to develop clinical services,
training and research. In 1948 he obtained a small grant
from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to empirically study the effects of early
separation and deprivation. For this research, he "wanted to engage a
psychiatric social worker" and hired
James Robertson.

The Tavistock
moved to Malet Place. Then moved to Beaumont Street (where it was in the
1960s).

"The Child Guidance Training Centre, founded as the
London Child Guidance Clinic in Islington in 1929, was housed in
the Tavistock Centre from 1967 until merging with the Tavistock Clinic's
Department for Children and Parents, to become the Child and Family
Department, in 1985. The Tavistock Mulberry Bush Day Unit was originally a
part of Child Guidance Training Centre."

1.1.1986 MBE in New Year Honours: Miss Eve Saville, General
Secretary, Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency.
(Supplement to the London Gazette)

1919 "As the First World War drew to a close,
Maurice Craig
helped
to persuade Sir Ernest Cassel to fund a hospital for 'Functional and
Nervous Disorders' at Penshurst, Kent, to treat neuroses in the civilian
population"
(external sources)

"founded, at the end of the First World War, by Sir Ernest
Cassel, who had been horrified by the effects of trauma and war on
soldiers. The Cassel Hospital was set up to treat the civilian equivalent
of shellshock, and admitted its first patient in
1921".

Opened 23.5.1921: "Sir Ernest Cassel has devoted £225,000 for
founding and endowing a
hospital for the treatment of functional nervous disorders which will
be opened at Swaylands, Penshurst, Kent, on May 23rd"
The British Journal of Nursing
7.5.1921

The Cassel originally worked as an eclectic psychotherapeutic hospital.

1936An Inquiry Into Prognosis in the Neuroses: By T. A.
Ross. Cambridge: University Press, 1936. 192 pages. Mainly
"a study of the long range results of psychotherapeutic treatment of the
neuroses at the Cassel Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders. This
institution, called Swaylands, was founded in 1919, to furnish systematic
treatment for the psychoneuroses on the basis that these disabilities had
received too little organized attention and management from the medical
profession. The interest of the founder, Sir Ernest Cassel, was aroused by
the striking manifestations of neuroses among the soldiers in the world
war. Dr. Ross was, until a few years ago, the medical director and moving
spirit of the institution. Swaylands furnishes rather sumptuous physical
accommodations and care for some sixty patients, whose residence varies
from two to six months." (external source)

1946 Tom Main appointed Medical Director. He was undertaking
psychoanalytic
training and encouraged other psychoanalysts to work at the Cassel. It soon
developed a psychoanalytic tradition and a psychoanalytic underpinning of
the clinical work. Psychosocial nursing practice came to the fore as a way
of dealing with regression, associated with intensive individual
psychotherapy. The
therapeutic community practice evolved from this way of
working, and from the experiences of Tom Main at the
Northfields Military Hospital during the Second World War.

1949 First mother and baby were admitted. From that experience the
work of the Families Service evolved treating children and their parents.
The Families Service specialises in the assessment and treatment of
children and families affected by the impact of physical, sexual and
emotional abuse.

From about 1993 Cassel Adult Service has developed an integrated
package of care, combining six months inpatient treatment, with a further
two years of group therapy and psychosocial nursing for patients in Greater
London

Run by the Mental Hospitals Department of the London County Council for the
Ministry of Health, mainly for soldiers who had returned from the front
suffering neuroses. Using a converted public school at Mill Hill.

Psychiatrists from the
Maudsley Hospital were recruited. Led by W. S. Maclay as medical
superintendent and including
Aubrey Lewis, Eric Guttman and Maxwell Jones. Their goal was
occupational and social psychiatry. A 150 bed "Effort Syndrome Unit" was
set up under the joint directorship of Paul Wood, a cardiologist, and
Maxwell Jones.
(Edgar Jones 10.2004)

John Raven (1902-1970).workeded part-time at the Mill Hill Emergency
Hospital and part-time with the War Office Officer Selection Board's
Research Unit at Hampstead from 1941. Published the Mill Hill Vocabulary
scale and subsequently the Advanced Progressive Matrices in 1943

1939? During
World War Two,
Belmont ("Sutton") was one of the "two
evacuation centres" of Maudsley
Hospital. William Sargant (24.4.1907 -
27.8.1988)
and Eliot Slater worked there. One of
them (Sargant?) had conceived the idea of a book on physical methods of
treatment in psychiatry whilst working under Edward Mapother at the
Maudsley in 1937. Sutton "tested the principles we have absorbed, in
the hard school of work under pressure on the largest scale" (Preface to
the first edition of An Introduction to Physical Methods of Treatment in
Psychiatry by William Sargant and Eliot Slater 1944.

A building next to
Belmont Hospital was the Industrial Neurosis Unit (renamed
the Social Rehabilitation Unit) in 1947, under
Dr Maxwell Jones as medical director from 1947. It was opened
with backing from the Ministry of Labour as a unit for rehabilitating
unemployed peopls.

Opened
as a
second
Surrey County Asylum in June 1867. 328 patients were received in
1867. On
an 1873 map it is on Knaphill Common, south west of "Woking Convict
Prison".

"The site was selected for cheap land and the Surrey Justices purchased 150
acres in 1860 for £70 per acre... The asylum was designed to be self
sufficient with its own gas works, sewage plant, a water tower with
reservoirs holding one million gallons of water, the four acre Home Farm,
and recreational areas. Occupational therapy was born and able patients put
to work on making items the asylum needed such as furniture, baskets, rugs,
tools, etc. and growing their own food. It was all commendably enlightened
for its time and with building extensions the number of inmates grew
steadily from 670 in 1875 to 1500 in the 1930s. Besides providing a great
deal of local employment for nursing and maintenance staff the hospital
became a major social centre for the district, organising fetes, shows,
weekly dances, sports events and fund raisers." (John Quarendon's Surrey
Walks: "Roots of Woking" downloaded from
WokingAlive.com, or later from
dirty boots is in the
international archive)

Edward Sackett (born 1840) was
admitted to the
[Workhouse] Infirmary, Russell
Street, Bermondsey on 14.11.1874, but moved to Brookwood Lunatic
Asylum a week later.
1881
Census: Edward listed as Henry Sackett.
Assistant
Medical Officers: James M. Moody (27 unmarried) and
James E. Barton (36 unmarried) who was being visited by George H. Barton
(aged 28), a stockbroker, and Thomas "Waklay" (medical student aged 29) who
is probably Thomas Wakley (1851-1886), grandson of Thomas Wakley founder of
the Lancet, who became joint editor with his father in 1886. Edward Sackett
was one of thirty patients moved to the Berkshire asylum on 12.9.1882 to relieve
overcrowding at
Brookwood. His condition was described as "unimproved". Brookwood's
contract with Berkshire expired 31.3.1884, when Edward was moved to the new
asylum at Cane
Hill.
Between 1889 and 1909 it was the only Surrey County Asylum.
Edward Sackett returned to Brookwood on 1.5.1895, but was sent to the
London County Asylum at
Claybury,
Ilford in September 1896.
1909: From this point, Brookwood served the western half of
Surrey.
1929Rules for the guidance of the nurses, attendants and
servants in the
service of the Surrey County mental hospitals at
Brookwood and
Netherne

produced by Surrey County Council (42 pages). Copy
preserved at King's College London.
It became Brookwood Hospital, Knaphill, Woking, GU21 2YP.
Closure planned from 1986, but did not take place until
1994. "The surviving buildings have now been converted into luxury
apartments". (Part of the site was developed
as housing Percheron Drive, GU212QY).
See
Woking's Villages2003
use: "Luxury housing"
Cataloguing its records -
archive

Architect:
Charles Henry Howell -
The ward blocks are arranged around a D shaped network of corridors.
Ian Richards
describes
it as an example of the
Pavilion Plan in which the wards where
housed in long thin ward blocks arranged around a central corridor. The
pavilion design was a development of the straight corridor plan
(e.g. Friern)
that led on to echelon plan asylums likeSeveralls). The design was popular in the
second half of the 19th century and it was about this time
that the Recreation Hall and Water Tower became a standard feature of
asylums.
The picture here is from a 1960s
AtoZ reproduced on the urban explorations site.

Hannah Chaplin was a vaudeville artist until her voice failed. After
that she lived in rooms in Kennington, in Lambeth workhouse, or Cane Hill
Asylum. Charlie Chaplin and his brother Sydney visited her in Cane Hill in
1912:

"It was a depressing day, for she was not well. She had just got over an
obstreperous phase of singing hymns, and had been confined to a padded
room. The nurse had warned us of this beforehand. Sydney saw her, but I had
not the courage, so I waited. He came back upset, and said that she had
been given shock treatment of icy cold showers and that her face was quite
blue. That made us decide to put her into a private institution - we could
afford it now."

Surrey County Mental Hospital at Netherne,
Netherne Lane, Hooley, near
Coulsdon, Surrey. Postcode was CR3 1YE.
On the London to Brighton route. Between
Croydon to the north and Reigate and Redhill to the south.
See 15.3.18891898 Surrey Council selected Netherne as the site for a new
asylum.
- The Netherne farming estate was purchased for £10,000
Founded: 18.10.1905Simon Cornwall:
Architect: George Thomas
HineBuilt 1907-1909, at a cost of £300,000.
Another source founded 1907 -
"the asylum's opening date was even immortalised in stained glass at the
back of the hall: 1907."
Simon Cornwall1.4.1909 A 960 patient hospital opened. "Four years later the
foundation stone was laid by builder John Bowen".
Netherne served the eastern half of Surrey and
Brookwood the westernAdministered by a Standing Sub-committee of the Surrey County Council
Lunatic Asylums Visiting Committee.
December 1909 to March 1919
Private patients' registers exist for this period.
1914 Surrey County Council. Annual report of the
County Asylums at Brockwood and Netherne. [Wellcome Library
may have a series
of these]
First World War: took in large numbers of patients from
"neighbouring hospitals, which had been taken over by the military". Food
from the market garden contributed to national supplies and convalescent
soldiers and German [Prisoners of War] were bought in to assist."
1920 Surrey County Council. Annual report of the
county mental
hospitals at Brookwood and Netherne for the year ended 31st
December, 1919. With audited accounts for the year ended 31st March,
1919. 116 pages. Published Kingston-upon-Thames, 1920. Preserved in the
British Library
1922 Surrey County Council. Annual report of the
Lunatic Asylums Visiting Committee : in relation to the County
Mental Hospitals at
Brockwood and Netherne. [Wellcome Library may have a series of these]
1929 Surrey County Council. Annual report of the
Mental Hospitals Committee : in relation to the County
Mental Hospitals at
Brockwood and Netherne. [Wellcome Library may have a series of these]
1929Rules for the guidance of the nurses, attendants and
servants in the
service of the Surrey County mental hospitals at
Brookwood and Netherne produced by Surrey County Council (42
pages). Copy preserved at King's College London.
Second World War Six wards and two villas
were used
for air raid casualties. The hospital "helped assemble electrical parts for
a nearby munitions factory and by the end of the war most patients were
employed in sustaining the war effort. Being close to targets such RAF
Kenley and a main road/rail link to London, several bombs fell in the
grounds including one in the nurse's home which failed to explode."
1946 Edward Adamson (died 1996) employed as Art Master to work
with the patients.
1948 Management transferred to the
National Health Service. Netherne continued to serve the eastern
half of Surrey and
Brookwood the western. Hospital management came under the
overall control of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. the
hospital came under the direct control of the Netherne Hospital Management
Committee from 1948 to 1964.
Rudolph Karl Freudenberg was Medical Superintendent from the 1950s to
the 1970s
1958 Funding from the
Nuffield Provincial Hospital Trust
for a study of the value of active work in the
rehabilitation of mental patients
1960 Moyna Peters, aged sixteen, had had difficulty
keep her jobs. She saw Dr Freudenberg as an out-patient at Redhill General
and was
admitted to Netherne on 1.5.19601960-1968 Used, with Severalls and
Mapperley in a study of
institutionalism and schizophrenia - Published 19701971 Film by Lionel Mishkin on The work of sculptor, Rolanda
Polonsky (born 1925 - died 1996?) interviewed at Netherne Hospital while
she was being treated there for schizophrenia. "We wish to thank Doctor R.
K. Freudenberg, Edward Adamson, and the Netherne and Fairdene Hospitals for
their help in making this film possible."
(source)Hospital under the direct control of Redhill and Netherne Group
Hospital Management Committee - formed in 1964 on the amalgamation of the
Netherne Hospital and the Redhill Group Hospital Management Committees. The
latter body administered a number of institutions.
1970 Cherchefelle, a housing association, formed to provide
supported housing for people suffering with mental health problems in the
Redhill/Reigate area.
November 1972 "The Labour Exchange said I had to get some
psychiatric treatment or they could not continue paying me my benefits".
(Moyna Peters) Moyna
became a day patient. In
her life story, she lists some of the
changes between 1961 and 1972. "The hospital had become more
open and free, more normal, in fact".
August 1974
"Into the Community"Became
Netherne and Fairdene Hospital about 1982. Later Netherne
Hospital, Coulsden, CR3 1YE
1984 Edward Adamson in association with John
Timlin, Art as healing published London by Conventure. 68 pages,
illustrated, chiefly in colour. Based on the Adamson Collection of
paintings by patients. ISBN: 0904575241
August 1986 Moyna Peters
moved from her family home to a house in Woodlands Road, Redhill
February 1991 Moyna Peters
left Hedgefield Villa to live in a house run by
Cherchefelle1993A pictorial history of Netherne Hospital, by John C.
Welch and George Frogley, published Redhill by East Surrey Health
Authority. 60 pages. ISBN: 0951648721 (paperback)
Simon Cornwall:
Closed in 1994. Redeveloped as housing.
Netherne hospital closed in Spring 1994. (Access to Archives note)
March 1995 "Netherne Hospital finally closed. It had been slowly
closing down for years past. The whole system went over to Care in the
Community where we would all be looked after in smaller units in
Reigate and Redhill, Merstham and Horley. Instead of the enormous hospital
we would all be in community homes and group homes. The acutely ill would
go into
Capel Ward at the East Surrey Hospital. - I feel that Care in Community
really works for me. (Moyna
Peters)7.9.1995 Death of Michael James Raymond (born 1922), Consultant
psychiatrist, Netherne Hospital
KW- Raymond, Michael, 1922-1995.
1995 Moyna Peters her
Life Story1996Gleeson Regeneration submitted an outline
planning application to develop a new village with 520 homes, a retirement
complex, business centre, shop, public house and other facilities.
(another link)About 1998
Andrew Tierney decided to explore
Cane Hill rather than Netherne.
17.5.1999 Andrew Tierney's first exploration of the Netherne
site
(Internet archive) The
site has had a
guard for many years, has new style connected phone boxes within the
grounds, as well as electrical power." "...large sections of the front of
the hospital have been entirely demolished (unfortunately this means the
boiler house etc...). The tower will remain for a while...it has cellphone
transmitters on it.... Many of the outbuildings have already been knocked
down, but the main building still stands....The architechture of the more
decorative buildings is gothic (take a look at the tower), but most of the
wards are of very simple design."
2000 Construction work on the village began and "shortly
afterwards" the first new residents moved in.

"43 of the 185 acres are being developed to provide housing and community,
commercial and sports facilities. The new village will have a mix of homes
ranging from large detached properties and luxury apartments to retirement
homes and social housing (25%)".
source
St Lukes Church
(see Moyna Peters' story) has been "redesigned internally" as a
leisure club with a swimming pool and gym exclusive to Netherne Village
residents.
2007 Netherne Community website
history pageJanuary 2009 Moyna Peters told some of her story on Radio Four's
State of
Mind

Tooting Bec Asylum, opened in 1903 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board, mainly for people with
senile dementia.
See Peter Higginbotham's site1903: Tooting Bec Asylum / descriptive notes by A. and C. Harston.
London : Avenue Press. 23 pages : illustrations. Held at Wellcome Library
1919 Post Office Directory: Tooting
Bec Asylum (Metropolitan Asylums Board), Tooting Bec Road, Upper
Tooting, SW17. Edwyn H
Beresford LRCP medical superintendent
It became Tooting Bec Mental
Hospital in 1924 and, in 1930, passed to the London County Council. In 1937 it became
Tooting
Bec Hospital. Address: Tooting
Bec Road, London, SW17 8BL
1974An inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of Mr. Daniel
Carey, at Tooting Bec Hospital on 2nd August, 1974 : report of the
Committee of Inquiry. South West Thames Regional Health Authority.
A copy at Birmingham University
1976What the house physician prescribes for some common emergency
psychiatric admissions : based on the practice at Tooting Bec Hospital,
London by Regina Pustan, Published [London] ([2A St Paul's Rd, N.1]) :
[The author] 1976. 8 pages. illustrated.
Subject: Psychopharmacology. Crisis intervention (Psychiatry).
Copy: British Library
1995The History of Tooting Bec Hospital
by Sue Simmons. 2 volumes. Includes photographs. Unpublished. Copy in the
London Metropolitan
Archives: City of London. Reference: H45/TBH/Y/01/002
Closed May 1995 demolished 1996/1997Wednesday 2.12.2015
A Short History of Tooting Bec Asylum
by
Liz Sayce, who
says (email) "I explore this more in
From Psychiatric Patient to Citizen Revisited -
but this web link gives you a lot of the material".

Pauper lunatics from Croydon went to the Surrey asylum at Cane Hill, and this
continued
when Croydon became an independent County Borough in 1889. However, the
"Lunacy Visiting Committee" of the new "County Borough of Croydon" also
made arrangements for patients to be kept in the Isle of Wight County
Asylum (1897-1902), others may have gone elsewhere.
1894/1895 Purchase of site for Croydon Borough Asylum approved
by the Home Office. (MH 83 County of Surrey)
1897/1903 "Croydon Borough Asylum, Warlingham: architects
appointed for planning construction; plans approved by the Home Secretary."
(MH 83 County of Surrey)
16.3.1899 Thomas Percy Rees born in Carmarthenshire. When he became
a psychiatrist, he was generally known as T.P. ReesBuilt at a cost of about £200,000 (Kelly's 1913)
26.6.1903 - Croydon Mental Hospital opened in
Chelsham
and
Farleigh, about a mile north east of the centre of Warlingham. The name
"Mental Hospital" was used from the begining, at the suggestion of Dr
Edwin S. Pasmore, who was appointed as the first medical superintendent
before it opened.
Croydon Mental Hospital: House Committee minutes 1904-1937 held
by Croydon Archive Service.
1910 "Three new blocks, consisting of five wards, were added at
a
cost of £33,000". (Kelly's)
Wednesday 5.4.1911 "Dr Pasmore, Medical Superintendent of the
Croydon Mental Hospital... said that it was now recognised that a mental
nurse should have medical and surgical training, and at Croydon one ward
was fitted up as a hospital ward." (British Journal of Nursing
15.4.2007)
1913 Kelly's Directory: Crodon Borough Mental Hospital -
Chelsham, Whyteleaf. Medical Superintendent, Edwin S. Pasmore MD London -
Assistant Medical Officers: William M. Ogilvie MB CM - Herbert M.
Barncastle MRCS LRCP - William Bertram Hill, MD BC - Clerk and Steward
Walter Brookfield Swain [All the other public ones in Surrey were listed as
Lunatic Asylum (or some variation) - This was the only "Mental Hospital"] A
structure of red brick ... available for about 650 patients".
The East Surrey Bus Routes called it Chelsham
Mental
Hospital from 1923 to 16.4.1930 when it became Croydon Mental
Hospital. On 1.1.1937 they changed it to Warlingham Park
Hospital. ("You'll end up in Warlingham" - Croydon children's
abuse in 1950s/1960s).
May 1925: The Branch Secretary of the Nation Asylum Workers
Union at Warlingham was "Mr E.F.Carter, County Mental Hospital,
Warlingham, Surrey"
1.1.1927:Croydon County Borough Mental Hospital
656 patients of whom all but 114 were Rate Aided. 206 were men, 450 women.
There was a very high proportion of women to men in comparison with most
asylums. In 1926 the proportion of recoveries to admissions was 67.6% (The
highest in England and Wales). The proportion of deaths to the asylum
population was 6.7%
January 1927The Croydon Advertiser and Surrey
County Reporter published an obituary of Edwin S. Pasmore.
March quarter 1927 Death of Edwin S Pasmore, aged 62, recorded
Godstone (which includes the hospital)
1927
T.P. Rees moved from
Napsbury to be deputy
physician superintendent.
1935 T.P. Rees became superintendent. His "first act"
was to open the iron gates at the hospital entrance, after which they were
not shut again. Over the next few years, all ward doors were unlocked
during the day, while nearly all restraint and isolation of patients were
abolished. (DNB)
Warlingham Park Hospital Committee minutes 1937-1948 are
held by Croydon Archive Service.
9.6.1949 Thomas Percy Rees, MD, MRCP,
Medical Superintendent, Warlingham Park
Mental Hospital, awarded an OBE in the King's birthday honours.
World Health Organisation report on
The Community Mental Hospital -
T.P. Rees was one of the authors.
1954:
Introduced out-patient nurses.
4.2.1954 Thomas Percy Rees, MD, MRCP, OBE, a member of the
Royal Commission to inquire into the certification and detention of mental
patients1956Christopher Mayhew, MP spent a few days in
one of the wards in preparation for the television series The Hurt
Mind. "As I went in I felt a certain apprehension, but after a few
hours...
I felt completely at home". There was a "porter's lodge" where he booked
in. His legal status is not stated, but he presumably signed in as a
voluntary patient. His bed was in a ward "for light cases -
alcoholics and neurotics". This part appears civilised. In the morning he
sits in the living room of his ward and reads morning papers with other
patients. Later he has dinner with others in the dining room. He also
visited the sitting room of the "best women's ward", where one woman
arranged flowers, another played the piano and three others watched
television. Elsewhere in the hospital he visited a "dormitary crammed with
beds". This is the worst ward he has seen - dealing with the "hard core of
chronic patients".
Deputy Chief Male Nurse, Mr Relph (John Ralph, died 1972?), was
interviewed. He said that the
old hospital was like a prison and described how staff often had
to "retaliate" when patients became violent and often "hit back in self
defence". Drugs,
ECT,
insulin and "open doors" had put an end to all of
that. The Chief Superintendant (T.P. Rees) was interviewed. He described
the hospital's main successes as the removal of the rails around the
hospital and handing over of responsibility to patients.
During 1956. T.P. Rees left Croydon and started a private practice in
Harley Street. He was made a freeman of the borough.
Stephen MacKeith may have succeeded Rees at Croydon.
January 1957 Warlingham Park featured in "Put Away", the first
programme of
The Hurt Mind, the first BBC television documentary about
mental health.
22.12.1962The Lancet "The Future of district psychiatry"
by A.R. May, A.P. Sheldon and S.A., Mackeith
2.6.1963 Death of
T.P. ReesDecember 1965Community Mental Health Journal "Change in
a British Psychiatric Service" by Alan Sheldon, formerly Registrar,
Warlingham Park Hospital. "Changes in the Croydon Psychiatric Service
consequent upon the adoption of a community mental health orientation are
described, and the effects of the initial phase of implementation are noted
in terms of data collected for a year preceding and following this phase.
The major effects are seen in reduction of readmission rates to the mental
hospital, and in a redistribution of patients among the wider range of
facilities"

In
his review of the history of some mental hospitals
(Bulletin, November 1982, 6, 195-7) the late
Dr Walk
omitted to mention the vital change that took place in 1903,
when the new Lunatic Asylum for Croydon was called the
Croydon Mental Hospital.

In January 1927 The Croydon Advertiser and Surrey
County Reporter published an obituary of my father, Dr
Edwin S. Pasmore, who was appointed the first Medical
Superintendent of that hospital before it was opened, and
attributed to him the origin of the term 'mental hospital'.
Furthermore the hospital was the first of its kind in the
country to have an operating theatre and X-ray department
to bring it into line with the general hospitals of the day. It
has since been renamed the Warlingham Park Hospital.

The Clock Tower,
described as hideous in 1908, is now a
Grade
two listed
building. The hospital was closed in February 1999, and demolished in
summer 2000, but the clock tower and many trees have been preserved. The
site is being redeveloped for housing. Postcode CR3 9YR
2003
use: "Water tower preserved as symbol of development"

Hackney (East London)
All in-patient beds were at Long Grove Hospital, Epsom,
about 25 miles away on the other side of London, until the psychiatric unit
opened at
Hackney Hospital.

Date that outpatients clinics started at Hackney Hospital is not known. But
none listed in 1940. If the Duly Authorised Officer was summoned to a
crisis in Hackney in
1956-1957, the person might be taken by ambulance to
St Clements (or another London observation unit) or directly to
Long Grove.

1959 Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA) started at
Longrove and in Hackney.

1962 Start of PRA research project to study mental hospital
admission and discharge rates for Hackney and Tower Hamlets and the
available community services, in relation to the national statistics.

[John Reed gave 1967 as the date some psychiatric beds opened at
Hackney Hospital. Before this there were out-patient clinics,
but the
in-patient beds were at Long Grove Hospital. However, the in-patient beds
at Hackney Hospital appear to pre-date 1967 - See below].

1966 All in-patients passing through Long Grove - St Clements - and
Hackney ("the main psychiatric hospitals serving East and North London")
were included in the PRA survey. "The total number of patients discharged
who were previously admitted from East London was 2061. 37% were discharged
from Long Grove, 52.8% from St Clement's Hospital, and 10.2% from Hackney
Psychatric Unit"
(PRA1968, p.6)

1981 There were 80 mental illness in-patient beds at Hackney
Hospital, 73 at the German Hospital and six at St
Bartholomews.

1981 BBC2 Soap/Drama "Maybury" produced with assistance from
Hackney psychiatrists. Rumour suggested that the psychiatrist hero, Eddie
Roebuck, played by Patrick Stewart, was modelled on
John Reed. There are
clear similarities between F Block in Hackney Hospital and the psychiatric
block at Maybury General Hospital. On page 98 of
the book, for example, we
learn that at Maybury (and possibly only at Maybury" "we do it all without
any chronic units"... "we're trying to show that it can all be done in the
community".

25.11.1982 and 26.11.1982 "Cinderella No More. A
Conference about the development of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services"
organised by the Community Psychiatric Research Unit, Hackney Hospital, at
Robin Brook Centre, St Bartholomew's Medical College. A paper by
John Reed "The elements of an 'ideal' service - The clinical
view" "describes and comments on experiences in City and Hackney as a
background to discussion of what might constitute an 'ideal' package"

Wednesday 25.6.1986 Dr John Reed's farewell party in the Academic
Centre, Hackney Hospital.

1986 Homerton Hospital opened, but geriatric and psychiatric wards
remained at Hackney Hospital

John Langdale Reed, Esq., M.B., B.Chir., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.P
sych., Senior Principal Medical Officer, Department of Health, appointed an
Honorary Physicians to Her Majesty for a period of three
years from 1st February 1990.

St Faith's Hospital, BrentwoodLondon Road Brentwood CM14 4QP (Telephone was 01277 219262)
Previously:
An Industrial School for Shoreditch and Hackney
(possibly opened by Shoreditch in 1854) - Hackney Branch Institution
Brentwood Epileptic Colony (1916-1936?). For women.
Established by the
Metropolitan
Asylums BoardTaken over by London County Council in 1935. Probably renamed
St Faith's Hospital at this point. See Ewell Epileptic Colony1962 (Hospital Plan): 332 beds in 1960, 303 of them for
epilepsy, plus 15 acute and 14 geriatric. "At present takes only female
patients" but "will be developed into the regional epileptic centre, thus
allowing St David's Hospital, Edmonton to be closed". Development to be
completed by 1971.
1979:
293 beds. "Chronic Sick (Geriatric and Epileptics)"
Demolished towards the end of the 20th century and replaced by "BT
Workstyle 2000" building.

Edmonton

St David's HospitalSilver Street London N18
Previously:
"From 1849 to 1915, this site was the Strand Union's workhouse school.
It was then bought and converted by the Metropolitan Asylums Board and
operated as St David's Hospital for "sane epileptics" until 1971. (email
from Peter Higginbotham - external link to his site)
Edmonton Epileptic Colony (1916-1936). For men. Metropolitan
Asylums Board
Taken over by London County Council in 1935. Probably renamed
St David's Hospital at this point. See Ewell Epileptic ColonyHospital Database says it closed in 1947 - But it
was part of a survey in 1962

St David's, along with the Edmonton Union Institution and North Middlesex
Hospital, shown on a map printed about 1950

1962 (Hospital Plan): 271 beds in 1960, all for epilepsy.
St David's was a regional centre for epilepsy. It was planned to close by
1971 (see St Faith's above) and the site was to be used for a new, 400 bed,
hospital for mentally handicapped patients. Building the new hospital was
expected to start sometime between 1966-1967 and 1970-1971. [But,
by then, public
policy had changed]

Darenth Park Opened by the Metropolitan Asylums Board in 1878 as
Darenth Asylum and Schools, 1913:Darenth Industrial
Colony, 1920:Darenth Training Colony. In 1930, passed to the London County Council.
1937:Darenth Park
Hospital, Dartford, DA2 6LZ.
1949 Complaints about patients being conveyed to and from
outside work in open lorries during the severe winter.
8.3.1951Norman Dodds
questions in parliament about use of open lorries in December
1950
8.3.1951 Minister of Health "The number of patients now resident
at Darenth Park Mental Deficiency Institution is 1,791 (1,084 male and 707
female patients). The nursing staff establishment provides for 148 male and
154 female nurses. At present, the male staff is 110 and the female staff
56 full-time and 66 part-time"
1980Hackney
patientsNovember 1982The only large mental handicap hospital planned to
close"The closure of Darenth was driven by the
determination of learning disability managers locally to run an entirely
different service and the South East Thames Regional Manager responsible
plus the Chief Nurse called Audrey Emerton (now Baroness Emerton). It was
very visionary at the time. Clinicians were marginal in that case." (Elaine
Murphy email 17.5.2012)
Closed 1988

Farmfield Originally an inebriates reformatory
"At an early date after the passing of the
Inebriates Act of 1898, the London County Council established a
reformatory at Farmfield, near Horley, for the reception of 100 female
inebriates. It soon became evident that more accommodation would be
necessary, and the Council accordingly contracted with the National
Institution for Inebriates for the reception of all female cases they were
unable to receive at Farmfield"
(Hansard 17.2.1908)November 1915: "London County Council closed its reformatory at
Farmfield and transferred the 45 female inmates to Brentry before it
converted Farmfield to being a mental deficiency colony".
(source)1926 London County Council institution for high grade defectives
with delinquent tendencies
1948 Part of the National Health Service. Organised by the South
West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board to form part of the Royal
Earlswood Group.
November 1953 just over 250 patients when
Peter Whitehead transferred from Rampton.
2.4.1954 Peter Whitehead working in a hotel in a Surrey country
town.
The terms of his licence included not being on the streets after 10pm,
not talking to a member of the opposite sex, not walking with a member of
the opposite sex and not frequenting dance-halls, public houses or similar
places. "These rules... are the inheritance of the
eugenics theories of fifty years ago"
(Roxan 1958 p.173)
7.8.1954 Peter Whitehead ran away to Dublin, where he would be
beyond reach of the mental deficiency laws. Unable to find work, he went to
Liverpool and then the Potteries. A priest found him work in Wolverhampton
and then he secured a better job on a farm near Newland Bridge.
14.9.1954 Jean Mary Townsend (aged 21) murdered in Ruislip, West
Middlesex. A nationwide search for possible suspects included questioning
Peter on the farm and, as a result, he was returned to Farmfield.
30.10.1954 Peter Whitehead protested about "working of the road"
(digging holes and filling them in) and then escaped. He went to his uncle
in Hammersmith and then to the National Council for Civil Liberties.
Recaptured 26.12.1954Returned to Rampton11.1.1955Early 1955 "Working of the road" discontinued at Farmfield.
1958 120 patients
Closed end of October 1989.
See
lost hospitals of London

Farmfield [Priory Group]
is a purpose built, 52-bed, low and medium secure hospital for men with
with "enduring mental illness, personality disorder and with mild learning
disabilities". "Treatment is targeted toward safe patient re-settlement in
the community where possible".

Hook Norton, OxfordshireLicensed HouseThe asylum at Hook Norton and the one at
Witney are the subjects of a special study by
William Parry-Jones (1972 chapter six). Page
numbers below are to this.
About 1725: opened. The village of Hook Norton is near the edge
of Oxfordshire, near to
Warwickshire1815
list: Hook Norton: Harris
1.1.1844 ??
Closed 1854

Oxfordshire and Berkshire County Asylum opened on 1.8.1846 at
Littlemore,
Oxford. This became the Oxford County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
May 1918Ashurst War Hospital, Littlemore. - 580 beds
(source)"for the care and treatment of soldiers and pensioners suffering from
neurasthenia or loss of mental balance" (Hansard 12.4.1920)August 1920 Reverted to county asylum
By 1922 it was
the Oxford County and City Mental Hospital. It became Littlemore
Hospital,
Sandford Road, Littlemore, Oxford, OX4 4XN
1990
Oxford Survivors and
Libellus Dementum2003
use: "Gated housing development, business"

Broadmoor Criminal
Lunatic
Asylum
was opened at Crowthorne, Berkshire, in 1863.BBC Profile -
Wikipedia"designed by Major General Joshua Jebb, a military engineer who is said
to have based the building off two other hospitals - Wakefield in Britain
and Turkey's Scutari Hospital" (BBC Profile) - Joshua Jebb (8.5.1793 -
26.6.1863) was Surveyor-General of Prisons. He made the design for
Pentonville
Prison, which acted as the model for many others. (Neil Sturrock
- email 7.12.2006)
1863 to 1948 Run directly by the Home Office
Dr John Meyer (died 1870) was the first Medical Superintendent. His
deputy was
William Orange (born 1833, died 1916). Both came from the Surrey Asylum1865: Report (HMSO) Superintendent: John Meyer, Chaplain:
J.T. Burt
1866 While kneeling at Communion Service, one Sunday, Dr Orange
was hit on the head by a patient with a stone hidden in a handkerchief.
July 1868 W.G. Maddox MRCS appointed Assistant Medical
Officer
in place of A J Newman, who had resigned
January 1970 D M'K Cassidy, MD, late Assistant Medical Officer
to the Northern District Asylum at Inverness appointed Assistant Medical
Officer
October 1870 W. Orange, MD Heidelberg, MRCP apponted Resident
Medical Superintendent in place of J. Meyer MD. deceased. Meyer's obituary
on page 311 of the Journal of Mental Science. William Orange had
been Deputy Superintendent and
W.Douglas MD, LRCS Edinburgh was appointed to that post in April 1871
1870: Report (HMSO 1871) Superintendent: W. Orange, Chaplain:
J.T. Burt.
October 1871 A.R. Gray, MD, MRCS Edinburgh appointed Assistant
Medical Officer
1873-1874 Series of articles by David Nicolson on "The Morbid
Psychology of Criminals" in the Journal of Mental Science1873 David Nicolson expressed opinion that habitual
criminals
"possess an unmistakable physique with rough and irregular outline and a
massiveness in the seats of animal expression" while the accidental
criminal "differs little or nothing from the ordinary run of mortals"
1878 After dealing with the inmates of the asylum, David Nicolson no
longer believed most criminals differed physically from non-criminals.
(Flemming, R.
2000 citing
Weiner, M.J. 1990
)
1881 Census Broadmoor Criminal
Lunatic Asylum, Sandhurst, Berkshire. Some senior officers (see below) live
outside the asylum. Inside is John Baldwin Isaac, unmarried, aged 33, born
in Ireland a "Doctor Of Medicine (Civil Service)". The names of patients
are given in full.
1881 Census: Superintendent's House (William
Orange)
Thomas Ash (Chaplain) -
David Nicolson -
Robert Hazel1887 Report of the Superintendent (W. Orange), plans of the
asylum, 1886 (men's division, men's division - blocks 1 and 6, women's
division and block plan of the complete asylum), report of the Chaplain
(Thomas Ashe), statistical tables, report of the Commissioners in Lunacy
and post-mortem records
1888 Report of the Superintendent - David Nicolson
1892 Superintendent still David Nicolson. Chaplain still Thomas
Ashe
12.12.1894 Letter from Robert Hazel (non-medical
superintendent at Broadmoor) to one of his daughters. He tells her about a
theatrical entertainment at the Asylum that was to happen the next day
(Friday 13.12.1894) Dr Lawless was
the stage manager. He goes on to say "The elections come off next week in
the School Room at Crowthorne, so it rather interferes with Mr Sharp's
concert. Other concerts are also under way." [Information from Fiona
Douglas. a descendent]
1896 "When there was a change of Directors at
Broadmoor around 1896 things became very tough in the Institution, and I
believe that is when Robert Hazle retired to Hanwell in Middlesex"
1901: Report (HMSO) Superintendent: R. Brayn, Chaplain: Hugh
Wood. Visiting Lunacy Commissioners: F. Needham and
C.S. Bagot

Buckinghamshire County Asylum opened 17.1.1853
Stone, Near Aylesbury (HP17 8PP)
Simon Cornwall:
Built: 1850-1853. Architect: TH Wyatt and David Brandon
Corridor form -
Close to Conolly's ideal"Dr John Millar, Superintendant of the County Asylum close to Stone
Vicarage" was a photographic pioneer and friend of Joseph Bancroft Reade
(1801-1870) (external link). Appears to have been
superintendent in 1855. A John Milar was proprietor at
Bethnal
Green by 1859. A John Millar wrote
a book about insanity in 1861
1853 to (about) 1930 registers of admissions and discharges in
Buckinghamshire Records, County Hall.
1919Buckinghamshire Mental Hospital1948St John's HospitalAssociated Hospitals:
Manor House Hospital - Joint Management Committee
from 1954
550 beds in
1979Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum - St. John's
by John Lewis Crammer. Publisher: London: Gaskell, 1990 195 pages:
illustrated and indexed ISBN/ISSN: 0902241346
closedSimon Cornwall:
Demolished. Site developed for housing. Only Chapel and some staff houses
remain.

See David Mapley on Fort Clarence, Rochester (external link - archive)
"
Fort Clarence is sited
across St Margarets Street in Rochester. Work commenced in 1808 and
completed in 1812 and was sited to prevent access from Maidstone Road to
the River Medway. After 1815 the fort served a variety of different
purposes. One use was as a military prison and lunatic asylum. After nearby
Fort Pitt became a military hospital the patients were moved
from Fort
Clarence to a new purpose built asylum, although the prison remained."

June 1815 Sir James M'Grigor appointed director-general of the army
medical department (based at Chatham).
Lockhart Robertson (1856) says "the old regulations drawn up by
him for the government of Fort Clarence breathe a spirit of scientific
humanity, which it required twenty years of progress to infuse generally
into the civil establishments for the insane. Throughout his long tenure of
office he was ever anxious to adopt into the Military Asylum every modern
improvement in the treatment of the insane... at his frequent personal
inspections at Fort Clarence he evinced a warm personal sympathy with its
afflicted inmates, which in after years I have often heard spoken of with
grateful remembrance."

Fort Clarence: Asylum opened
1819. "Fort
Clarence, Chatham, was opened in 1819, as a military asylum. There were
plans to build a new and larger asylum, but these were not fulfilled at the
time" (Parry-Jones,
W.L.
1972 p.68) - The 1844 Report refers to "lunatic wards" at Fort
Clarence (and Haslar) as well as to a "military hospital". Opened "for the
reception of insane officers, soldiers, and women belonging to the army;
and in that year four officers, sixty-two non-commissioned officers and
privates, and two women were admitted into this hospital".
(Lockhart Robertson 1856)

Andrew Smith
returned to England from South Africa in 1836 and was stationed at Fort
Pitt. He became staff surgeon and principal medical officer in 1841.

In 1844 its principal medical officer was
Andrew Smith M.D., and it
had 70 patients, 21 of whom were commissioned officers.

"The Military Hospital at
Fort Clarence, near Chatham, is well situated.
The part of the fort which is appropriated to the residences of the
officers is very gloomy, and ill suited for a receptacle for insane
persons. Some of the sleeping-rooms for the private soldiers are
sufficiently good, but others are dull and cheerless. The exercising
grounds for the officers, and the yards for the soldiers, are cheerful, but
are not sufficient in number or size. The buildings and grounds admit of
great improvement; but we understand that the inmates of this hospital are
about to be removed to a new asylum."
(1844 Report p.31)

"Most general military hospitals included wards for the mentally ill. In
1847, about 20 mentally ill soldiers were transferred from Fort Clarence in
Rochester to a new house of detention or of observation at
Fort Pitt. Morrison, K. 7.1996

The "new asylum" mentioned in the 1844 Report, "was to have
been erected between Maidstone and Chatham, with a sum
£60,000. A site was purchased but ultimately abandoned, and the Naval
Hospital at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, selected to replace permanently for
the benefit of the insane patients of the army, that establishment which
the Commons had decreed should be built".
(Lockhart Robertson 1856)

9.3.1855Hansard £2,000 allocated to buildings
for military lunatics at Fort Pitt. "It seemed contrary to common sense
that a lunatic asylum for the whole army should be placed in the middle of
Fort Pitt, where unfortunate invalids were now experiencing comfort after
their return from the Crimea".

3.3.1856
Hansard: Masters Smith complained that "the lunatics, the moment
they were relieved from the discipline attached to the wards, were
permitted to have free communication in the area of the fort with the
invalided soldiers who had returned from foreign service... those lunatics
were subjected to no active surveillance". He was told that "a hospital had
been procured
near Southampton" were it
was hoped "a building would be erected there which would include a
hospital, invalid barracks, and a lunatic asylum".

"Drugs were given almost automatically to new admissions...ECT
(Electroconvulsive therapy) was sometimes used as a punitive
measure -
although it was not openly admitted. I have heard the term 'punitive ECT'
used in the hospital in reference to "that is what a patient needs". Some
psychiatrists had a certain faith in ECT and at times patients were
threatened with it" (page 14)

"The consultants at St Augustine's readily admitted that they
gave priority to the patients who were acutely ill. These tend to be
younger than the chronic patients... the patients in the back wards often
have intractable illness.." (Dr Tony Smith The Times 1.4.1976)

Sometime in 1976 the Royal College of Psychiatrists received a
request from
The regional medical officer of the South East Thames regional health
authority saught advice from the Royal College of Psychiatrists on giving
ECT to non-consenting patients. Ths led to the
1977 guidelines
(Wikipedia)

This aerial view was sent me by Brian Bradley. It is included on Chartham
Paper Mill's intranet as part of its heritage. Brian says that Canterbury
City Council have refused Wilcon Homes permission to knock down the old
hospital water tower (centre right in photo) as they consider it a
significant landmark that
could be turned into some sort of viewing tower. The photograph looks as if
it may have been a postcard.

Closed 1993.
Econ construction, specialist in asbestos
removal and
demolition, charged a quarter of a million pounds to destroy the complete
hospital complex of sixty acres, reclaiming of bricks, timber and slates
and recycling and crushing 6,000 cubic metres of concrete, employing thirty
demolition workers at the peak and completing on time in 1997 - on behalf
of Wilcon Homes.
Simon Cornwall:
Closed in 1992, demolished in 1997.
Peter
Cracknell: Admin block, villa, lodge, chapel and tower survive.
Rest of complex cleared by 1997.

The 1844 Report
estimated the pauper lunatics of Sussex to be 251 in 1842,
and reported the number chargeable to Unions in Sussex by August 1843 to be
278 (105 idiots and 173 lunatics. But there was no public or private asylum
in the county that received paupers. Several were in asylums outside the
county. Eight were in county asylum/s. [There is no column for "hospitals"
so this may have included St Luke's Hospital]. Eighty Five were in
licensed houses. Only 69 of those who remained in the county were in a
workhouse, the other 116 were "with their friends or elsewhere".

External links
mechanised org tours derelict building and says "Further
Reading: Hellingly is one of the most documented of asylums- and the sites
below offer the most interesting interpretations.
Sub-Urban has a fascinating "Then and Now" section comparing the
hospital as it stands with images from the 1900s -
Exploration Station has reminiscences of former
staff, patients and local residents; also contains countless photos -
Urbex is the most accessible tour of the hospital;
an extended journey through all of the main points of interest
-
Abandoned Britain is a black and white tour that perhaps comes
closest to capturing Hellingly's calm and stillness"
(Mechanised Spring 2006)

Essex County Asylum: Plans date back to
1819:, but original
proposal was for Springfield, Chelmsford. (Essex County Archives): Q/ACp 1:
Papers and reports re Proposed County Lunatic Asylum Committee 1819-1827.
"Committee reports, correspondence and opinion of counsel relating to
purchase of the Ordnance Depot at Springfield, 1819, for
conversion into a Lunatic Asylum. Includes a petition against the proposed
scheme signed by 20 inhabitants of Springfield. Copies of printed Reports
and Rules and Regulations of other County Lunatic Asylums collected by the
Clerk of the Peace. Copy of printed Act
48 George 3, c.96[1808]. Correspondence
relating to request from Select Committee of the House of Commons,
1827,
for information concerning care of lunatics in Essex and several copies of
the Select Committee's Report printed, together with an account of the
abortive scheme in Essex, by order of the court. For Minutes of this
Committee see Q/ACm 3"
1834 Received
circular about cheap method of constructing an asylum
Michaelemas Session 1837: Q/SBb 529/47
Draft court order for [Thomas] Hopper [County Surveyor] to investigate
practicality and cost of providing lunatic asylum at Springfield.
1846 Great Dunmow, St. Mary the Virgin, Parish Overseer's
records: Circulars opposing erection of County lunatic asylum.
1849
County Lunatic Asylum: Treasurer's Account (Q/ALc 9). One volume
1849-1861
Diaries of Charles Gray Round of Birch Hall
(D/DR F68) 27.6.1849 - 3.7.1854, include consecration of St. Peter, Birch,
gift of C.G.Round, 25.10.1850; visit to Great Exhibition in Hyde Park,
London, 16.5.1851; laying of foundation stone of County Lunatic Asylum at
Brentwood, 2.10.1851, and appointment as chairman of Visitors,
16.1.1854.

Essex County Lunatic Asylum opened
23.9.1853 at Brentwood.
Probably
built
for 300 patients, it had 450 patients in 1858. -
Too large for Conolly's ideal?Architect: H. E.
Kendall [Essex County Archives Catalogue has "Kendall and Pope"
as "architects". H.E. Kendall and R.R. Pope: See
initials in brickwork[try again]
Simon Cornwall's
website: "It consisted of two main blocks orientated north to south and
facing east, with miscellaneous buildings dotted behind these to the west.
The use of red and black bricks, the stone mullion windows, and the use of
octagonal towers gave the hospital a medieval appearance."
Corridor form31.12.1853 307 patients
31.12.1860 666 patients
1863 Three
"distinct houses with as much as possible the plain arrangment
of a country home" were opened. They were Blocks A, B and C.
1864 Extension added
1870:model for a
South Australian asylum1870
Chloral hydrate tried as a sedative and ammonium bromide for
epilepsy
1870 Extension added
31.12.1870 932 patients
31.12.1880 932 patients
1882 Gradual withdrawal of beer from patients' diet was
completed by 1892. The brewery was converted into a laboratory and
mortuary.
1884 Typhoid epidemic (leak of sewer gas from old rains blamed)
1889 Typhoid epidemic (leak of sewer gas from old rains blamed)
1889 Extension added
31.12.1890 1376 patients
1894 37 patients and 5 staff suffered smallpox. Thirteen of the
patients died.
1895 Large outbreak of
diphtheria. Thirty three "true" cases
identified by bacteriological methods.
Typhoid epidemic in 1900 led to two deaths
31.12.1900 2081 patients
1901 680 patients transferred to
Goodmayes. All Essex patients "boarded out" in the asylums of
other counties returned to Brentwood, occupying most of the beds vacated by
the patients who went to Goodmayes. By 1913 there were several hundred more
patients boarded out.
1901 Screens used to separate parts of the galleries (day space)
of some wards as temporary dormitories. Some were still there in 1953.
31.12.1910 1875 patients
"Pathological work, in the investigation of possible organic structural
abnormalities as a cause of insanity, increased enormously from 1910 and a
great deal of research was carried out"
(1953 Centenary booklet)May 1913 The second Essex County Asylum at
Severalls Hospital, Colchester opened. The boarded out patients
went there.
1913-1914 Verandas added to some wards for "open-air
treatment". [Not stated that this was for
tuberculosis]

First World War: Patients received from
Norfolk and
Napsbury"Rationing for patients was more severe than that for the general
public and, with the overcrowding and other factors, resulted in an
enormous death rate in the latter years of the war.
1917 525 patients died, only 10 less than the number of
admissions.
Typhoid epidemic in 1917: 82 patients and 55 staff affected. 21
patients and 9 staff died.
By 1919, deaths fell to 346.
1920 180 patients returned to Napsbury and the Norfolk County
Asylum
31.12.1920 1446 patients

1953
Centenary. Renamed Warley Hospital1953 G.S Nightingale, Warley Hospital, Brentwood. The first
hundred years 1853 - 1953. Typed. Photocopy said to be available at the
Essex Record Office, Chelmsford. This may be related to "the 1953 centenary
commemorative booklet, printed by patients in the occupational therapy
department" quoted from in the boredtown history. -
online copy on Warley Hospital website-April 1969 Date on
Geoffrey
Nightingale's update on the Warley history
Geoffrey Nightingale retired as (the last?) Physician Superintendent of
Warley in 1969
"From 1974 the hospital lay geographically within the Chelmsford
District of the Essex Area Health Authority, but in common with other
hospitals in Brentwood was administered by the Barking and Havering Area
Health Authority."
1979:
1,025 beds
Served people living in Brentwood, Havering and Barking and Dagenham.
1997 Year Joanna Moncrieff says the "long stay wards were
finally closed" and "most patients who could not be discharged were
transferred to a newly opened and staffed rehabilitation ward known as
Woodside Villa". "At its inception, Woodside Villa was
included
in a research project about the fate of patients discharged from the
asylums, the
TAPS project. Involvement in this project meant the unit was
staffed by a multidisciplinary team, including nurses, doctors,
occupational therapists, and psychologists. Social workers were involved on
a case by case basis". - As the first wave of patients were gradually moved
on, other, mainly younger patients were admitted, usually after prolonged
stays on the acute inpatient wards.
June 2001. Warley Hospital closed. Patients, staff and support
services moved into purpose built Mascalls Park accommodation.
2001 Joanna Moncrieff became consultant at Woodside Villa. This
was about the time that the
TAPS programme came to an end.
April 2009?
Woodside Villa due to close.
Addresses
Warley Hospital, Warley Hill, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 5HQ.
Mascalls Park; Mascalls Lane Great Warley, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 5HQ
Urbex (Simon Cornwall) map and photograph
index - elements of Mascalls ParkBrentwood history at boredtownCofton Projects
(all archives, that is 14.11.2002 to 24.2.2005)
Now Clements Park, Warley, Warley, Essex, CM14 5UZ, and similar
postcodes.
Brentwood Borough Council Photo Album

Severalls Hospital, ColchesterThe second Essex County Asylum
(See first)1903 Site bought
Opened May 1913 - planned to increase it, by stages, to 2,000
patients. The first patients were several hundred Essex people who had been
"boarded out" in the asylums of other counties.
Essex archives online:1915-1916 Case Papers relating to James Keeble of Heybridge
Basin in Heybridge, removed from the London Lunatic Asylum at
Stone
near Dartford (co. Kent), to Severalls Asylum at Colchester on 15
July 1915
1920-1921 Case papers relating to Susan Mott a lunatic pauper
spinster confined in Severalls Asylum at Colchester
1929 Case papers relating to Constance Julia Hardy aged 43 years
a pauper lunatic and singlwoman formerly of 30 Stainforth Road, Seven Kings
[Ilford] and later of Wayside House, Stow Maries, and now in Severalls
Lunatic Asylum at Colchester
1929 Case papers relating to Henry Arthur Willett, born at
Burnham-on- Crouch 15 October 1895, and his wife Marion Blair Willett a
pauper lunatic now in Severalls Mental Hospital at Colchester
1960-1968 Used, with Netherne and
Mapperley in a study of
institutionalism and schizophrenia - Published 1970Last patient moved out 20.3.1997

"The main hospital complex is a good and externally largely
unchanged and intact example of an echelon plan hospital, The main hospital
complex is surrounded by a variety of villas, accommodation blocks which
were built between 1910 and 1935. This makes the site particularly
interesting as it represents the changing attitudes of asylum design in the
early 20th Century, away from the large hospital complexes so popular in
the 19th century to the more 'homely' Colony Style where the wards where
housed in smaller individual villas rather than large ward
blocks."

"The tower at Severalls houses the lift pumps that abstract water from a
bore hole. The water is lifted to the cistern at the top of the tower and
supplies the Domestic Hot Water Supply and the Cold Water Downservice.
All drinking water is taken directly from the public main as are the fire
hydrants."

The chimney can be seen at the back of the tower. Originally
the stack was a third taller, but was reduced in the second world war
because it posed a threat to crippled US bombers landing at Boxted
airfield near by. The chimney takes the fumes from the oil and gas fired
boilers that
heat the water. There were four large steam boilers and one which was half
size. In
the event of electrical power loss to the hospital site, a large generating
set
made the site self sufficient if necessary.

The Save
Severalls Group website is maintained by Ian Richards. It also
has information about other asylums Ian has visited. Ian has provided me
with information about asylum design in the between 1850 and 1950 that I am
using on this website.

Runwell Mental HospitalRunwell Chase, Runwell, near Wickford, Essex
opened 1934-1937
was one of the two last mental illness asylums to open, the
other being Shenley. It
was
a joint venture of Southend and East Ham boroughs, situated on the railway
line mid-way between them.
20.6.1934: Founded
Following the ending of contracts accomodating patients at the
Essex county's Brentwood mental hospital, joint facilities were
developed between East Ham and Southend-on-sea boroughs. A site was chosen
at Runwell Hall, to the east of the town of Wickford and an extensive
complex of buildings was developed utilising the colony plan. Considered
advanced amongst its kind". (Peter Cracknell)Architect: Charles Ernest Elcock and Frederick Sutcliffe, of London
Colony planFirst superintendent: Rolf Ström-Olsen
21.5.1936 First patients admitted
14.6.1937 Opened
1938 Dr Joseph Bierer, a refugee from Austria, was
appointed the first psychotherapist in a public mental
hospital (Runwell). He later (1946?) founded a
Social Psychotherapy Centre (Marlborough Day Hospital), in
London.
From 1944: Visits by
Kathleen Jones1950 Dr J.A.N. Corsellis (1915-1994) "known as Nick" began his
collection of brains at the hospital.
About 1955 became Runwell Hospital,
Wickford, Essex, (SS11 7QE)
The first psychiatric hospital to "treat" me: As a boy (not long after
1955) I had the waves of my brain measured. I thought the lady might be
reading my mind, so had to be very careful.
1968 Dr Clive Joseph Bruton (18.9.1941-1.2.1996)
became a Senior Registrar at Runwell, working with Dr J.A.N. Corsellis. He
left for general practice in 1971, but retained his connection.
1979:
848 beds. Administered by Southend Health District.
Outside the District
1986-1994 Dr Bruton honorary consultant, Department of
Neuropathology, Runwell Hospital
the mid-1980s until 1995, the department of neuropathology at Runwell
had been largely funded by the Medical Research Council.
1993 Brain specimens number abot 8,000
When, in 1994, plans were announced to break up and re-distribute the
archive, Bruton was instrumental in ensuring that the custodianship of the
department and the material was transferred to Southend Community Care
Services NHS Trust, leading to his appointment as curator of the Corsellis
Collection brain bank".
1994-1996 Dr Bruton curator of the Corsellis Collection
The Corsellis Collection is now housed at
St Bernard's. "It is reputed to be the world's largest
collection. I believe it is kept down in one of the basements" (Paul
Champion, email 12.8.2006)
31.3.1994: 320 patients

"St. George's hospital, Sutton's Lane, Hornchurch, was built by
Essex county council and opened in 1939 as an old people's home called
Suttons Institution. (footnote 152:Information from St George's Hospital)
During the Second World War it was used to house airmen from R.A.F.
Hornchurch. In 1948 it was taken over by the Ministry of Health as a
hospital and was given its present name. It has over 400 beds, used mainly
for geriatric cases. The Ingrebourne Centre, which is an independent part
of the hospital, provides psychiatric treatment for 20 resident and many
day patients." From: 'Hornchurch: Economic history and local government', A
History of the County of Essex: Volume 7 (1978), pp. 39-45. URL:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42811

1954Richard
Crocket (born 1914) appointed Consultant in Psychological
Medicine jointly to Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, Essex and St George's
Hospital, Hornchurch.
(Millard). He was Consultant in charge of the Ingrebourne Centre
to
1979

The
therapeutic community was established by the
Senior Hospital Medical Officer, Hamish Anderson, who was Crocket's full-
time assistant, from
1957. He and the Registrar (Ray) lived in the hospital
grounds.
(Millard)

The unit was, physically, very unlike a hospital ward. It was a
completely detached prefabricated quadrangular building in the grounds of
the hospital. The ground floor had bedrooms that each accommodated two or
three patients.
[See plan]
However, it was called "Ward G3" until Richard Crocket
changed the name to "The Ingrebourne Centre for Psychological Medicine".

"Until the introduction of psychotherapeutic community methods
the unit was organised on the pattern of a traditional short-term mental
hospital ward.
The medical staff ultimately consisted of one consultant [Richard Crocket]
nominally available for three half-days per week, but in practice attending
five half-days weekly; and a senior [Hamish Anderson] and junior [Ray...]
assistant whole-time each. (Senior Hospital Medical Officer and Registrar
respectively,) Other staff included an assistant matron, a nursing sister,
three staff nurses and four nursing assistants; a psychologist; a
psychiatric social worker; and an occupational therapist (who later changed
her role to social therapist)."
(Crocket 1965)

1954 "In 1954 it became an independent psychiatric unit,
and came under the administration of the general hospital group in which
its buildings were situated. Under the new arrangements a strong interest
in psychotherapy and social methods of treatment developed, covering child
psychiatry as well as adult psychiatry..."
(Crocket 1965)

"I
had this .. Jungian picture ... of a centre with ramifications amongst
general practitioners and hospitals, and functioning as an exchange rather
like the telephone exchange" (external source).

About 1956
Bertram A. Miller became a patient. He wrote in 1963 "after
receiving four year's treatment at the Ingrebourne Centre, I have been
blessed with perfect serenity when facing a visit to hospital. My previous
psychiatric treatment included E.C.T., and I can assure my readers that an
injection of sodium pentothal to put one to sleep is nothing to worry
about". In
1960 he
was one of the first sheltered workers. "Bert" was a very active member of
the social committee. He helped for several years on the bar at the annual
party for the elderly patients in the main part of St George's Hospital.

The Neurosis Unit became independent of Warley and
was renamed the Ingrebourne Centre.
July 1956 "It was only with the appointment of a full-time
senior psychiatrist in July 1956 that the move to a full therapeutic
community approach developed".
(Crocket 1957) "the arrival from
Dingleton to a newly-
established SHMO post of a fellow Scot, Hamish Anderson, which stimulated
the addition of large group methods and the evolution over the following
few months of a fully-fledged therapeutic community".
(Millard)

Anderson introduced large groups on his arrival, but, at first, other
clinical commitments were allowed to prevent him and members of the nursing
staff from attending regularly. Between July 1956 and April 1957 the
arrangements were re-thought so that staff attendance was regular.
(Millard)

Miss Eileen Clarke (social worker?) joined the Centre "lots of mornings she
would sit with a large sheet of paper drawing the group circle, with each
member in his or her seat" (Rose Chamberlain)

31.3.1959 end of Ingrebourne study

1960 or late 1950s Ronald St. Blaize-Molony became
an
Ingrebourne doctor "initially as the SHMO in succession to Hamish
Anderson".
(Millard)

"...I had no acquaintance with groups other than as an adjunct
to occupational therapy and no idea of the community as an all embracing
therapeutic concept. My personal analysis had barely got itself underway.
The community was in a state of huge bereavement (staff and patients)
subsequent to the departure of two much loved charismatics who were very
experienced and therapeutically deft. The transference was negative to the
point of critical hostility expressed in sullen silences and extravagant
acting out. Richard was ... alarmed. ... his was a very part-time
appointment, much of it taken up in administration. Thus his own attendance
at groups was sparse... Richard organised with the director of the
Tavistock Clinic for me to attend weekly behind a one-way screen at his
psychotherapy demonstrations with a therapeutic group. I profited immensely
and I like to think quickly." (Blaize-Molony quoted by
Millard)

"Some time in 1960, I am not sure of the exact date, several of the day-
patients who had been receiving treatment at the Centre were directed to a
meeting in the office of Dr. Lewellyn-Smith. Miss Thuell, or Jennifer as we
called her, attended the meeting, also Arthur, Ken Wingrove, John Potter
and myself. Dr. Lewellyn-Smith explained to us that, as an experiment, the
hospital authorities were starting a new project to give certain patients
the opportunity of working for a few hours each week... We were given to
understand that we were to treat this arrangement just as if we were
working for an employer in the usual way, and to commence work punctually
and conduct ourselves generally as if we were working for an outside firm.

Our first contract was obtained from a plastic manufacturing firm and was
painting plastic globes. From a financial point of view, it was not very
successful..
(Bertram A. Miller M.M. One of the Sheltered Workers)
continued
19.6.1962

February 1961 Three day
conference in London on "Hallucinogenic Drugs and Their
Psychotherapeutic Use". Richard Crocket and Ronald A. Sandison (the
consultant at
Powick Hospital near Worcester who "treated" 1,000 of his
patients with LSD over a period of 12 years) spent the next twelve months
editing the
Proceedings of this conference.

Wednesday 3.7.1963 I stood at the door, looking on the
sunlit lawn,
and I felt the grass growing. My mind was still set on dying, but my heart
was responding to the grass. AR1963 Breakdown

Sunday 28.7.1963 Three Ingrebourne patients, Andrew Roberts, Robbie
Roberts and Jenny Humphrey, went to Brighton, on route for France. Jenny
and Robbie stayed in France for a week, Andrew for a fortnight. Andrew may
have
been discharged before the holiday and returned to work afterwards.

November 1963 Andrew Roberts' second stay in Ingrebourne. Incentive
(Ingrebourne Magazine) produced by Jenny.

Friday 8.11.1963 Farewell party for
Dr Barker organised by patients
at Sutton's Club, Station Lane, Hornchurch.

15.11.1963 Dr Barker leaving for Australia

Thursday 12.12.1963 Ingrebourne Christmas show in Main Hall.
Rehearsals had been in the Group Room every Wednesday at 7.30pm

End of September 1964? Valerie working in Old People's Home for a
fortnight. Then moved to Islington.

25.9.1964
Letter from Ronald St Blaize Molony, Senior Psychiatrist, to Dr
J.J. Fleminger at Guy's Hospital saying unable to take Valerie back as an
in-patient.

"we were closing the unit for in-patients so that we would get
the decorations completed as expeditiously as possible... not only are we
redecorating in terms of painting, but we are also undertaking structural
alterations and will have no beds for quite a lengthy period".

May 1967 "The 'therapeutic community' as an approach to
psychotherapy" by Harwant S. Gill [Ingrebourne Psychologist "Dr Gill"]
Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, Vol 4(2), May 1967, pp
87-91. Also reprinted as a pamphlet. "The nurse's role in a therapeutic
community is similar to the mother's role in a house..."

September 1969 H. J. Tollinton, a psychiatrist at the Ingrebourne
Centre, published
"The organization of a psychotherapeutic community" in the British
Journal of Medical Psychology (Volume 42, Issue 3, pages 271-275)

1991Bill Murray
2004:
"I went to work at the Ingrebourne in 1991, having
just qualified as a RMN (Registered Mental Nurse).
During my training I had taken up the opportunity of
having a 12-week placement there. The whole set
up was incredibly different from that which I had
seen on the wards in Warley Hospital"

December 1999Newsletter 4
"On the more purely oral history front: We have recorded a series of
interviews with Dr. Richard Crocket, discussing his life and career,
focusing particularly on the Ingrebourne Centre of which he was the
founding Director, and, with Helen Spandler as the main interviewer, the
Paddington Day Hospital."

2000Bill Murray
2004: "Perhaps it was inevitable that the
TC would reach the end of its life... as it
did sometime around October 2003. I left the service
in October 2000 and haven't been able to ascertain
the exact date of closure."

We whose names are herein Subscrib'd being appointed Trustees for the
Endowment of
Bethel do require you on Sight hereof to take and Receive into the
aforesaid House take
due care of and provide for A B belonging to the parish of C aged
about years He being Certify'd under the hand of our Physician to be under
Lunacy
and there being Security given for his maintenance by D_ _ E.. while he
shall
continue there to our Satisfaction.

To F G Robert Waller
Keeper of Bethel

The Bethel at Norwich
For the applicants:
Norwch Janry 1730

Having this Day receiv'd an order from the Trustees for the Endowment of
Bethel
directed to the Keeper to Receive & take into the aforesaid House, take
care of & provide
for A.. B of the parish of C aged about years. In consideration
thereof we do hereby promise to pay to H J Treasurer of the aforesaid
Endowment or to his order the Summ of Four Shillings per Week and to pay
the Same
Monthly for so long time as he shall remain in the aforesaid House and also
to allow for all
Damages and Wasts that shall be committed by the said A B and to Supply
him with necessary Cloathing during his abode there, and if he shall dye
there, do promise
to remove the Corps or else to be at the charge of Burying him from the
aforesaid House in
witness whereof we now Set our Hand the Day and Year above written.

1747: Ordered that "Thomas Benning, Carpenter, do make a partition
in each story in order
that the Mens apartments may be wholly on one side of the Hospital and the
Womens on the other. And also that he make a new Window on the South side
of that Cellar where some of the Lunatics are lodged"
1749 Existing bathroom to converted to a cell, and
strawroom to a "Cellar for the worst of the Lunatics to be put in", and a
new strawhouse, bathroom and wash-house were to be built.
The number of residents remained stable between twenty and thirty until
1750. There was then a steady increase which continued throughout
the decade. By 1760 numbers had risen to almost fifty.
1765 Trust incorporated and trustees became governors.
1762 Bequest of £1,000 by Bartholomew Balderston in order
that two persons from the Congregation of Independents in Norwich could be
kept "on the foundation" from time to time.
(archive) - Relates to
Congregational Church, Old Meeting, Norwich
(archive)Patient numbers dropped
from between forty and fifty resident before 1780 to little more
than thirty in the early 1790s.
1792 - 1867 Members of the
Gurney and Birkbeck families, Quaker
bankers, amongst the Governors.
27.7.1807: Frederick Reeve Spalding criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum". He had been
tried for a felony at Norwich and was held on the order of Warner & Richard
Car Spalding. (HO 20/13)1814 On the opening of the
County Asylum notice was given to parishes
that certain pauper patients would be discharged. The parishes arranged
their admission to the county asylum. For the next three decades, until the
Lunatics Act of 1845, the number of patients at the Bethel remained between
seventy and eighty, while those in the new asylum increased
1818 Letter from Samuel King, Bethel Hospital, Norwich, to
Thomas Stimson, Emneth, stating that patient John Marshall of Emneth would
be returned as the parish had ceased to pay for him - 'It will fall to my
Lot...to take him home in a Post Chaise' (archive)September 1828 Joseph John
Gurney (a visiting governor) visited with
his sister,
Elizabeth Fry. Two days later a Middlesex magistrate visited and
pronounced himself "much pleased"
June 1830William J. Tuke
accompanied Gurney to the house and suggested that the galleries might be
opened up to
provide a variety of exercise for the patients.
1831: Uriah Baldwin criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum, Norwich". He had been
tried at Norwich. July 1832: Thomas Iveson criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum, Norwich". He had been
tried for murder at Kings Lynn. He also spent time in
Bethlem(HO 20/13)Superintendent 1844: -- King.
1.1.1844 66 patients. "It is believed that some of these are
maintained partly at the charge of parishes"
(1844
Report
p.210)
1870 Superintendent C. M. Gibson
(surgeon)
1881 Census: "Hospital For Lunatics
Bethel" Bethel Street, Norwich St Peter Mancroft
1956 Sale of the five Bethel Hospital farms.
(archive)
[I think these were the source of investment income since the 18th century
-
But see national policy]1962 (Hospital Plan) Grouped with
Hellesdon. Bethel had 122 patients in 1960 and was expected to
close by
1975

"the oldest surviving hospital in the country specifically
founded for the care of the mentally ill and currently the oldest building
in the UK to have been in continuous psychiatric use (though it has been
threatened with closure for some time) Since 1974 when the
in-patient
facilities were closed, it has continued as the Centre for Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry."
Medical Heritage

Norvic Clinic, Yarmouth Road, NorwichFirst purpose built
Regional Secure UnitOpened early 1980s?"The Norvic Clinic (plus the associated rehabilitation units of
Meadowlands and Highlands) are the Trust Forensic service, providing a
local and Regional facility. They are situated on the east of Norwich,
close to the A47 southern by-pass, on the site of the former
St. Andrews Hospital, now the Broadland Business Park".
(source)

Email on Rootsweb: "Infirmary Road ran from where the swimming
pool was to the
junction of Angel Road and Waterloo Road. The Borough Lunatic Asylum was
in Infirmary Square in what is now Starling Road and the building you
remember as preceding the swimming pool was, in fact, St. Augustine's
School. The school was badly bombed on April 27th, 1942, and was never used
as such again. Two of my ancestors are shown as living in Infirmary Road in
the 1861 C.R. The area became New Catton but prior to that was in St.
Clement Without."

In 1859/1860 a new workhouse was built north of Bowhill Road, which
eventually gained an infirmary. The establishment of
Norwich Borough Asylum
appears to have followed the disappearance of the Infirmary Bethel.

Kellys Norwich 1883:
"The corporation of Norwich have built a Lunatic asylum for the
city, at Hellesdon, distant about two miles, to supersede the one formerly
used in
Infirmary Road: the new building was erected to hold 350
patients
and the administrative portion is large enough to work an asylum for 500 or
600 inmates: the plan is on what is known as the "block system" -- detached
buildings connected together by communicating corridors and surrounded by
airing courts -- and there is one peculiar feature in the arrangements
which has never been carried out in any other lunatic asylum: i.e. the
upper floors are entirely empty during the day, and the ground floor during
the night, thus giving perfect ventilation to each story every twelve
hours: the cost of the works has exceeded £60,000, including the
purchase
of the site and furniture: the architect is
Mr Makilwaine Phipson F.S.A.:
there are about 50 acres of land attached to the asylum, the cultivation of
which is entrusted to the patients, under direction, with very satisfactory
results: the building is lighted by gas supplied from the Norwich gas
works: the water is pumped up by steam from a well 100 feet deep on the
premises: there are about 100 single room, and the other 250 inmates are
associated together in dormitories containing from 4 to 16 patients each:
in 1851 a mortuary and stables were built near the entrance lodge, also two
semi-detached cottages for the artizans: the asylum was opened and
organised by the first and present superintendent, Dr. William Harris
FRCS."

"Many military buildings have been built in Great Yarmouth over
the years. One of the most striking is the Naval Hospital, which was
originally for sailors wounded in the Napoleonic Wars. It then became a
barracks, but was
converted back to a hospital 40 years later
and was used
to
accommodate sailors who were mentally ill. Hence the navy slang
to
describe those sailors who are showing signs of mental wear and tear is
going to Yarmouth." (online leaflet -
archive

"The naval hospital at Great Yarmouth had been constructed between 1809 and
1811 to treat the sick and wounded of the North Sea Fleet."
(Jones and Greenberg 5.2006) -
"It was completed in 1811 at a total cost of £120,000 and was built
to receive 198 wounded in the Navy during the war with France, but no naval
wounded ever arrived." (Hansard 3.3.1931)

From Crisp's History of
Yarmouth (1877?) -
archive copy -
offline textThe Royal Hospital or Asylum built by Government at a cost of
£120,000Foundation stone laid by Admiral Rilly Douglas in 1809The building was erected by Mr Peto (father of Sir Samuel Morton Peto)
from designs by H. Pakington, Esq., for a Naval Hospital. "The rooms in
front are 150 feet long, and the whole area within the Asylum is about
fifteen acres, and the interior arrangements are admirable, to say nothing
of the spacious court-yard to the north".
Opened 1811?13.3.1812 The South Gate taken down and sold for £26 to
Mr.
Jonathan Poppy. It presented, two massive round towers, flanking a square
curtain, beneath which was the arch.
1815 600 wounded men from Waterloo lodged in the Naval Hospital

St Nicholas Gatt, the seaway approach between sandbanks, became shallower
and unsafe for men at war. The Admiralty converted the hospital to a foot
barracks. (History, gazetteer, and directory of Norfolk, 1845)

April 1818 (passage written)
Excursions in the County of Norfolk "The most splendid
public ediface in Yarmouth is the royal barracks (originally intended for a
naval hospital) on the South Denes." - "Nelson monument now building on the
South Denes between the royal barracks and the haven's mouth" (page 117)

"In 1844 it
became a military lunatic asylum and was used for this purpose for ten
years." (Hansard 3.3.1931)

5.5.1849 Unsuccesful application by Charles Lockhart Robertson for
the post of Resident Physician and Superintendent in the
Glasgow Royal Lunatic Asylum

7.2.1851,
Andrew Smith promoted to inspector-general when
Sir James McGrigor retired as director-general. He had been
deputy inspector-general since 1845.
Lockhart Robertson (1856) says Andrew Smith "believes that the
insane patients of the army are best cared for by a frequent change of
medical officers, inexperienced as regards the treatment of mental
disease."

September 1851Charles Lockhart Robertson resigned as he was
refused permission to continue working at the Yarmouth Asylum. He wrote to
the Secretary at War: " It cannot, I think, be "questioned by any competent
member of the medical profession, that the practice of frequently handing
over the insane patients of the army to the care of officers quite
unconversant with the practice of this special department of medicine, is
alike injurious to their interests, and to the scientific status of the
Military Lunatic Asylum." - "His tenure of office at Yarmouth
having expired, he resigned the Army service,
entered at Cambridge, graduated as M.B. in 1853, and practised as an
alienist physician for four years in London. In 1858 he was appointed
Medical
Superintendent of the
Sussex County Asylum, then in course of erection.
This post
he
held until 1870, when he was appointed
Lord Chancellor's Visitor."
(offline)

Towards the close of 1852 George Russell Dartnell (1799-1878), Army
surgeon in charge of the Military
Lunatic Hospital, Great Yarmouth. He had returned to Britain in 1843. By
1854 he was Deputy Inspector-General, Army Medical Department. After
retiring from the army in 1857, he operated Arden House Private Lunatic
Asylum at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire which he also owned from 1858 to
1876.

25.2.1853
Andrew Smith became Director-General of Army
Medical Services.

May 1854 "The Yarmouth Hospital ceased.. to be
"occupied as
a hospital for military lunatics, possession of it
having been resumed by the Board of Admiralty for the
purposes of a general hospital foi the sailors of the Baltic fleet...
The lunatic patients at Yarmouth consisted of
19 officers, 69 soldiers, and 5 women... The Secretary
at War having requested our opinion as to the best mode of
providing for those inmates, we named
Grove Hall, Bow, as
a well-conducted asylum, and capable of affording proper
accommodation for the soldiers and women; and ...
Coton
Hill Lunatic Asylum Hospital, (an
institution under good management, near Stafford,) for the
officers... But we trust the arrangements thus made are
"merely of a temporary character". (May 1850 report of the Commissioners in
Lunacy, quoted
(Lockhart Robertson 1856)

"On the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 the Admiralty claimed the
building. The military patients were removed and the place fitted to
receive wounded from the Baltic, but none ever came". (Hansard 3.3.1931)

20.7.1855
Question in House of Commons subsequent to a leading article in the
Asylum Journal (No. 11) about the breaking up
of the Military Lunatic Hospital at Yarmouth, and (No. 12)
Charles Lockhart
Robertson writing "actuated by a natural sympathy with the
present sad state of my former patients."

3.3.1856
Hansard: Colonel Henry Boldero "had minutely visited the
lunatic asylum at Chatham
some years ago, and was disgusted and horrified with what he saw. After
some considerable difficulty he had found a building, an unused barrack at
Yarmouth exactly fitted for the purpose; he had reported this to the
Government, who had sent down a medical officer, whose report was
unfavourable. He was not discouraged; he obtained leave from the Government
of the day to take down other officers, and at last he prevailed upon the
Government to have the lunatics transferred to that place. He was
astonished to find that they had been retransferred again to Chatham." Told
"that the reason was simply this. The buildings in question belonged to the
Admiralty, and as there was an expectation of a large number of invalid
seamen during the war, the Admiralty had reclaimed the property, and the
War Department had no choice but to give it up."

"When peace was
declared the War Office again took over the hospital and it was used by
them as a convalescent hospital for soldiers." (Hansard 3.3.1931)

July 1858 Fifty-seven invalids, mostly Indian sufferers, arrived at
the Military Hospital on the South Denes from
Chatham - (Crisp)

11.7.1859 Eighty invalids, mostly Indian sufferers,. arrived at the
Military Hospital on the South Denes from Chatham. - (Crisp)

The
building was re-modelled in 1863, and 37 new wards added, by Mr. G.
Tyrrell. Eighty inmates were received the same year (September) from
Haslar, making a total of 169. [See
Netley]

"In 1863 the Admiralty again claimed the building, this time for the use of
naval lunatics. Various alterations were then made. The boundaries were
enlarged by taking in ground on the north and west sides and by the
purchase in 1865 of about ten acres from the Corporation of Yarmouth at a
cost of £10,982." (Hansard 3.3.1931)

The eleven acres of ground on the east cost the Government
£11,000 in 1875.

3.3.1931Hansard Yarmouth Naval Hospital Bill - House
of Lords - Contains detailed history - "The hospital has been continuously
used by the Admiralty as a mental hospital since 1863 and is still so
used." - "The Ministry of Pensions are also anxious to increase the number
of patients they have under treatment at Yarmouth by removing them from
other institutions, and thus providing further accommodation for civil
patients". Currently 119 patients. About ten new naval patients a year
anticipated. Ministry of Pensions want to transfer between 100 1nd 130
patients. "There is normal peace accommodation for 213 patients, but this
number could be increased to 260".

Report of the Royal
Commission on the
Law Relating to
Mental Illness and Mental Deficiency. 1954-1957, paragraph
880: "The Yarmouth Naval Hospital Act, 1931 Under this Act special
procedures are laid down for the admission, detention and discharge of
patients in the Yarmouth Naval Hospital. Persons who may be admitted as
patients include officers of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines whether they
are on the active list or not, and certain other categories of persons who
are serving of have previously served in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines,
Royal Fleet Reserve, Royal Naval reserve or Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve,
and also other war pensioners already detained elsewhere under the Lunacy
and Mental Treatment Acts (except voluntary and temporary patients). The
procedures for the compulsory admission, detention, visitation and
discharge of patients in this hospital (other than voluntary patients)
differ in many ways from those which apply to certified and temporary
patients under the Lunacy and Mental Treatments Acts. We understand that
the future of this hospital is at present under consideration, and that
changes are contemplated which, if approved, would involve the abolition of
these special procedures. It seems to us desirable that the procedures and
safeguards which we have recommended for patients in other hospitals should
also apply to patients in this hospital.

Queens Road, Great Yarmouth.
Simon Cornwall::
Originally: Naval Hospital/Barracks
Built: 1800-1811. Architect: Henry Pilkington.
Converted to housing.
Clive Baulch: This building opened 1876. Closed as a naval
hospital in
1956. Became NHS.
St. Nicholas' Hospital in Great Yarmouth, the former Royal Naval
Hospital, was attached to the
St Andrew's Hospital under the Yarmouth
Hospital Transfer Act19571960 Hospital Plan 245 beds. Planned to close by 1975
31.12.1977 211 beds. Mental Illness

Paul P. Davies History of Medicine in Great Yarmouth, Hospitals and
Doctors (ISBN:0954450906), published by the author, Great Yarmouth,
2003. I am told that this has about 100 pages devoted to the Royal Navy
Hospital. This description is taken from an online bookseller:
718 pages of A4 size... history of all the Gt Yarmouth hospitals up to the
opening of the James Paget Hospital in 1981. It includes the General,
Escourt (Isolation), St Nicholas' (Naval), Gorleston Cottage, Gorleston and
Northgate (Workhouse) Hospitals. The various smallpox, cholera and military
hospitals, which at one time were in the town are also included. Details of
many of the past doctors of the town are given, dating back to the 18th
century and the well-established practices are traced back to their
origins. The book is well illustrated with photographs, advertisement and
health notices. Medicine is interlinked witrh local and social history and,
were appropriate, this is included.

5.10.1808 Bedfordshire Justices gave notice
of their intention to provide a lunatic asylum

Building commenced 1810Architect: J. Wing.
Landscape designer unknown. "Limited grounds
reminiscent of earlier charitable asylums".
Archive at Bedfordshire Record Office.
Opened June or August
1812Ampthill Road, Bedford from 1812 to 1860
National Grid Reference SP 047 485
Dr Grant David
Yeates, physician to the Duke of Bedford, helped to establish
both the
Bedford Infirmary and the County Asylum. He was the infirmary
physician and visiting physician to the County Asylum from 1813 to 1814. He
tried to convince the Bedfordshire magistrates that they should concern
themselves as much with the cure of asylum inmates as with their safe
custody. (Munk
and Scull, A.T.
1979 p.
155)
27.4.1812 William Pether and his wife appointed "the Governor
and Matron of the Lunatic Asylum".
May have provided for 52 patients at opening. Twice enlarged before
1844. The second enlargement being with a view to taking paupers from other
counties, to reduce the cost of the asylum to Bedfordshire.
1825:
Copied mounds in yards from Brislington House1844 (and long before) Superintendent J. Harris,
Surgeon1.1.1844: 139 patients. All pauper. It had accommodation for 180.
Weekly charge for paupers 7/6. For out-county paupers 8/6

Leavesden Asylum was
one of two
asylums for chronic patients opened by the Metropolitan Asylums Board in
October 1870.
Architects:
Giles and Biven - Dual PavilionMay 1871: 1,600 patients
1915: Medical Superintendent: Frank Ashby Elkins
1920: Leavesden Mental Hospital1937: Leavesden HospitalAs a student in the 1960s Liz Lane worked there in the summers and
winters with patents who were known as "high grades":

"Leavesden was a grim place that looked like a Victorian workhouse, on
both sides of the main road with a tunnel going under so that people didn't
get run over.. I was on the easier side, away from the more secure part.

Probably 60% of the patients I dealt with (about 60-80 altogether I think)
would have been considered mentally handicapped by today's standards, but
not enough to be institutionalised, better dealt with in a special needs
educational class. There was one woman who was referred to as a "burnt out"
psychopath who had been transferred from Rampton, and did have violent
tendencies. There were a few who had been caught for various kinds of
sexual misconduct when they were kids. and then there were a few who seemed
perfectly normal intelligence-wise, but just a bit "off" or easily
agitated. I think there was probably some truancy or what would now be
considered attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorder. It was really
hard to tell, given that these people had been locked up for 40 years or
more.

By the way, "high grade" was a term used by the patients themselves. I seem
to remember some of the "high grades" reading the paper, and they were
certainly capable of carrying on a conversation, although often
repeptitive. Probably bored half to death!

I remember the staff doing the best they could mostly. Our patients didn't
get, or seem to need, much in the way of psychiatric help other than some
antipsychotics here and there, so the day was spent keeping an eye on them,
providing some sort of entertainment, three meals a day plus snacks, and
the bathing routine which involved three or four patients at a time, all in
very large bathtubs in a huge bathroom, and a lot of clothes-darning and
repair done by the staff. It seems really archaic looking back..."

1971 listed a Mental Handicap Hospital with 2,164 beds,
111
in locked wards.
Address: Leavesden Hospital, College Road, Abbotts Langley,
Hertfordshire, WD5 0NU
(map to postcode --
multi-map)
Closed 1995A pamphlet on its history of Leavesden Hospital should be
in both Hertfordshire Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives (Placed
there by Christine
Lawes).

In 1939, Middlesex had three mental hospitals and two
institutions for mental defectives, all but the smallest of
these (Bramley House, Enfield)
were outside the county. The oldest was in Surrey. The others were in Hertfordshire: Napsbury, Shenley Mental
Hospital and
Shenley
Colony. Between
them they had "approximately 7000 patients, and the care of these
unfortunate people requires the services of a very large staff."

"In
1994
proposals were made in the Mental Health Strategy for
Barnet that Napsbury Psychiatric Hospital, a Victorian 'asylum' in London
Colney be closed and patients be cared for in the Borough of Barnet. A
cornerstone of the agreement was that services be provided on both the East
and West sides of the Borough. Napsbury Hospital finally closed in 1999 and
in-patients have since been cared for at Edgware Community Hospital, where
an old hospital building was refurbished to create the Dennis Scott Unit."
(Barnet CHC)

"Harperbury, previously Harperbury Hospital, is still in
existence, but with only about 60-90 residents on the site. They
live in purpose built bungalows on two locations called Bowlers Green
(beside the still-used bowling green) and Forest Lane. Other services on
the site include wheelchair assessment and continence services, but the
site is now largely used for training purposes such as IT training,
inductions, and postgraduate medical education. Owned by Hertfordshire
Partnership NHS Trust and previously by Horizon NHS Trust. There is a
booklet on the history of Harperbury in the possession of both
Hertfordshire Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives."
(Christine Lawes)

Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridgeshire served Huntingdonshire after
1939. Cambridgeshire was slow to build an asylum. In 1852 they "counted up
the
lunatics in Huntingdonshire to try to bring them in". Then they tried to
combine with Bedfordshire, and were stopped by the Lunacy Commission.
Eventually, they began to build in 1856. The Pauper Lunatic Asylum for
the
County and Borough of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely - opened at
Fulbourn in
November 1858Corridor form -
Close to Conolly's ideal?

"Addenbrooke's Hospital used to be situated in Trumpington Street: a
psychiatric clinic was established in the nineteenth century." In
1934 "a child guidance clinic was established at the previous
Addenbrooke's Hospital."

1960s: "Fulbourn rose to international prominence for its pioneering
therapeutic community under the leadership of Dr David Clark,
the last
holder of the title of Medical Superintendent and later Consultant for the
Cambridge Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service. Subsequently the early
community psychiatric work in Fenland and in general practice by Dr A R K
Mitchell became well known nationally. The psychiatric outpatient clinic
was established at 2 Benet Place on the edge of the old
Addenbrooke's site. 1966: The
Ida Darwin
Hospital
opened on an adjacent site to Fulbourn. Dr Gwyn Roberts was subsequently
appointed from it to become the first Professor of Mental Handicap in
Nottingham. 1970: Child and adolescent inpatient units were
established in Douglas House. 1970s and 1980s: The Hospital
gradually transferred to its new site on Hills Road at the southern edge of
Cambridge. 1989: The first psychiatric ward in Addenbrooke's (R4)
was opened by transfer of the Professorial Unit from Fulbourn Hospital.
1992: The outpatient clinic, the Psychotherapy Unit and Young
People's
Psychiatric Service moved to Addenbrooke's on the closure of Benet Place.
Further facilities have since been opened on the Addenbrooke's site.
County Asylums website "Closed 1992, although
still operates on adjoining site"
1999
Consultation that could lead to full closureExternal link:
Cambridgeshire Mental Health Hospital
Services

A hospital for private patients, known as Herrison was
opened in 1904.
8.1.1902Private Patients at Dorset County Asylum
(external link)
[About 1940? Herrison Hospital was adopted as the name for the whole
hospital]

Dorset County Mental Hospital from 1920 to about 1940
1.1.1927:
902 patients, including 206 who were not Rate Aided.
365 were men, 535 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 31.6%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 5.1%
1940? Herrison Hospital, Herrison, Dorsetshire, [DT2 9RL]
1962 (Hospital Plan) On 31.12.1960 there were 1,186
staffed beds. In 1975 there were expected to be only 860.

"Patients in Herrison psychiatric hospital in Dorset, which
opened in 1863,
were locked in at night and left unsupervised until morning. It closed in
1992, and is being redeveloped by Bellway Homes and Charlton Down
Developments, which has turned the three main buildings into luxury
apartments" (Anne Caborn, The Observer Sunday 18.8.2002)

"The Haslar site was bought in
1745. It is a glorious 55-acre site
overlooking the mouth of Portsmouth harbour, and it became the first
purpose-built hospital for the Royal Navy. It was opened in 1754 and took
some 1,800 patients. Its distinctive high walls were there to prevent the
patients from escaping should they wish to do so, having been press-ganged
into the Navy initially. It is historically very interesting. The
expression "up the creek" refers to Haslar creek, which is not a good place
to be. It was for years the main home of the Royal Naval Medical Service,
but following changes it eventually became the only military hospital in
the United Kingdom, and was renamed the Royal Hospital Haslar. That was the
position on 10 December 1998. On that date, the Government announced they
were proposing that the military forces withdraw from Haslar, and it was
stated that the hospital would close in about two years. In fact, some 10
years later the Royal Hospital Haslar is still there." (Peter Viggers, MP,
Gosport, Conservative,
Friday 20.3.2009

This section of a
present day conservation map shows signs of the three
stages of Haslar's mental health history - The original boundary wall (mid-
18th century to keep all the sailors from escaping - The walls of the
lunatics airing grounds for the early 19th century asylum within the
hospital - The 1908/1910 mental hospital.

The Hospital Muster Books for "Haslar (Lunatics)" begin with a book for
1818 to 1819 (ADM 102/356) and continue to 1854 (ADM 102/373). Naval
lunatics were moved from
Hoxton House in 1818. However, there is also ADM 305/35
"Governor's orders; with (at back) list of Haslar lunatics 1813-1817".
Possibly a list of insane patients in the general naval hospital who had
not (yet?) been moved to Hoxton.

1822 William Burnett a member of the
victualling
board
as colleague
of
Dr Weir, then chief medical officer of the navy. Later he became
physician-general of the navy. In this capacity... he introduced a much
more humane treatment of naval lunatics at Haslar than had been previously
practised." (DNB 1886)

1826 Dr James Scott (1785-1859) apointed first medical lecturer at
Haslar. He resigned (as lecturer?) due to ill-health in 1838.

1828 Behind the south wing are the wards for the lunatics, with
large enclosures for their proper exercise, &c.: there are also baths for
patients with infectious diseases.
(Chronicles of Portsmouth by Henry Slight, Julian Slight. 1828).

"To the south of the Hospital were
wards designed for insane
patients who had their own
secure Airing Yard enclosed by
walls at either end. These walls
remain in large part and form
an important historic feature of
the grounds to the Hospital." (conservation plan March 2007

22.3.1838 Letter from Dr James Scott, LL. B., Surgeon and Lecturer
to the Royal Hospital at Haslar ; Licentiate of the Royal College of
Physicians of London ; Surgeon and Medical Superintendent of the Royal
Naval Lunatic Asylum ; President of the Hampshire Phrenological Society,
&c. &c. (external link)

In 1844 Haslar's principal medical officer
was Sir W. Burnett, M.D., and it had 98 patients, 29 of whom were
commissioned officers. (Sir William Burnett (1779 - 16.2.1861) was a
Fellow of the Royal Society)

"The part of the Naval Hospital at Haslar which is
set apart for officers of the Navy and seamen afflicted with insanity, is
admirably adapted to its purpose. The rooms are lofty, spacious and airy;
and they command a view of the entrance to Portsmouth harbour. There are
excellent exercising-grounds between the hospital and the shore, and the
patients are frequently taken out in boats" (1844 Report pages 31-32)

The Haslar Muster Books
finish in 1854, which is when the hospital at Yarmouth ceased being used for
military
lunatics. However, Yarmouth did not become a Naval Lunatic
Asylum until 1863

1908-1910 "a purpose-built psychiatric unit, 'N [now G] Block', was
constructed at Haslar, comprising two wards of 12 beds and a padded cell. G
Block acted as an assessment centre and sailors who required long-term
treatment were transferred to a psychiatric unit at Great Yarmouth."
Jones and Greenberg 5.2006

During the interwar period the navy employed two regular psychiatrists -
one at Haslar and the other at Great Yarmouth. Their focus was on the
treatment of major mental illness. Jones and Greenberg 5.2006

Portsea
Workhouse, near
Portsmouth, Hampshire
[St Mary's Road]
A Workhouse AsylumPortsea Island Poor Law Union was formed 18.7.1836. It include the two
parishes of Portsea and Portsmouth, population 1831: 50,389 (Portsea
- 42,306, Portsmouth - 8,083).

Visited 28.8.1843:

"26 Lunatics;
15 Females and 11 Males ... 7 were Epileptics and 2 Idiots. Many of the
Patients, although not strictly speaking, imbecile persons, were
individuals of
weak intellect. Some of them, however, were decidedly Insane, and
occasionally violent and unmanageable unless restrained, and some of them
were labouring under delusions."
(1844
Report
p.234)

1881 Census: Union Work House, Portsea
Island, Portsea, Hampshire. Master of Workhouse: John Quintrell
There is a separate entry:
1881 Census: Portsea Island Borough
Lunatic Asylum, Milton, Portsea, Hampshire: Medical Superintendent:
William Charles Bland, married, surgeon, aged 33.
I think this is the separate building that became St James Hospital
(see below). St Marys, St James and the
Prison all seem to be in what was
the village of Milton. [See map. St Marys south of the prison. St James
to the east by the creek]
1898 Portsea Island Union Infirmary
1928St Mary's Infirmary
1930 St Mary's Hospital
by 1969 St Mary's General Hospital
by about 1980 St Mary's Hospital, Milton Street, Portsmouth, PO3
6AD

The two pictures of staff both feature the superintendent,
Bonner
Harris Mumby, in the centre.

1907:picture postcard on
Stephen Pomeroy's web"Greetings from
Portsmouth Borough Asylum" - 01 in Stephen Pomeroy's collection
The Postcard 01 pictures are "Ward Three" - "Milton Asylum Laundry" - a
front view - "Ward 5" - "Milton Asylum Ball Room" - "Milton Asylum
Dormitory" - "Milton Asylum Kitchen" - It is a used postcard 1907, no
publisher.
1919 Post Office Directory: [out of
date - see below] Portsmouth Borough Lunatic Asylum, Asylum Road, Milton,
Portsmouth. Bonner
Harris Mumby MD medical superintendent; Frederick Ernest Stokes MB, Ch B.
Glasgow, DPH Cambridge and Edward Hope Ridley, MD Edinburgh, assistant
medical officers; Rev Joseph Fowler, MA, chaplain; Arthur E. Bone,
treasurer; Edward W. Rogers, clerk
29.4.1914 Bonner Harris Mumby, "medical superintendent of Milton
Asylum, Portsmouth" died (Journal of Mental Science obituary)
1914 Henry Devine appointed Medical Superintendent of the
Portsmouth Borough Asylum
Known as
Borough of Portsmouth Mental Hospital from 1914 to
1926.
an
external link
Dr Marjorie Franklin, "as a young junior medical officer in the Portsmouth
Borough Mental Hospital in the early 1920s, became intensely
interested in
the relationship between mental illness and the patients' environment. She
observed not only the often-noted improvements that occurred in response to
a cheerful, encouraging environment and sympathetic nursing but also, in
some cases, the dramatic improvement of the psychotic condition with the
onset of severe physical illness. The latter phenomenon she attributed not
only to a change in the location of the cathexis but also to the greatly
increased attention and care which the ill patient received. The
improvement was seldom maintained but Dr Franklin considered that with
skilful psychoanalytical intervention and support it might have
been"1.1.1927: 866 patients of whom all but 184 were Rate
Aided. 331 were men, 535 women. In 1926 the proportion of recoveries to
admissions was 31.3%. The proportion of deaths to the
asylum population was 6%
After 1926:
uncertainty about its name until it became St James' Hospital in
1937.
By 1930 Thomas Beaton (1888-1964) had succeded Henry Devine
1946 "St James' Mental Hospital, Portsmouth" given glowing
praise by
Carlos Blacker (page 62) for its success in educating the local
population in removing fear. "Out-patient sessions are attended by all
social and diagnostic classes with as little qualms as might be provoked by
a visit to a Voluntary hospital". "Without an afterthought, parents bring
their children for advice and guidance"
1960s Postcard 06 in Stephen Pomeroy's collection is a black and
white aerial view labelled "St James' Hospital, Portsmouth" - not used,
no publisher.
6.12.1973
Portsmouth Mental Patients Union founded
1970s Stephen Pomeroy's postcard collection begun
The hospital was in Asylum Road until the name of the Road was changed
to Locksway Road, Portsmouth (PO4 8LD).
(map)Simon Cornwall:
"Grounds preserved as city park. Some rebuilds and regeneration going on".
Peter
Cracknell: "Asylum building in NHS use"

Peter Higginbotham's site:
The Isle of Wight had control over its own poor law administration under a
local Act of Parliament of
1771. It had the power "to manage the
poor
persons incapable of providing for themselves in the parishes of the
island; to let out poor to harvest work" and "to apprehend idle persons not
maintaining their families in the island". It did not adopt Poor Law Union
status under the
1834 Act until
1865. The
island's workhouse was to the
north of Newport
(see map). It was a large two-storey L-shaped building in red
brick.

House of Industry,
Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight
[St Mary's Hospital, Newport, developed in three parts: The lower (south)
part, which is the House of Industry (later workhouse) discussed below. The
upper, north part, which developed from the infirmary of the House, and the
new buildings recently constructed between the two parts]
1771 Act of Parliament authorising construction of a
House of
Industry. (Laidlaw p. 60)
1784 Two "cells" provided for lunatics.
By 1810 there were six cells for lunatics.
1820 Some female lunatics sent to Finch's
Laverstock House(Laidlaw p. 68)
By 1813 a separate building for lunatics. This was the west
side of the quadrilateral of buildings making the House. (see map below)
1822 lunatic wing enlarged
1830 lunatic wing enlarged
By 1831: the part of the workhouse containing lunatics and
idiots was licensed as an asylum. (A Licensed Workhouse Asylum from 1832-1853)
1832 28 asylum inmates
1840 Some female lunatics sent to Finch's
LaverstockHouse(Laidlaw p. 68)
1.1.1844 27 patients all pauper.
Proprietor: Riches, Surgeon
Weekly charge for paupers not stated.
On 1844 list of best conducted:reasons
commended1853 ceased to be a licensed house. I think this would be due to
the opening of the
Hampshire County Asylum. In 1852 the
Guardians had resisted a comprehensive transfer of patients the new County
Asylum. In 1853, twenty women and several men were sent across the Solent
in a steamer specially commissioned (for seven guineas) from The Isle of
Wight Steam Packet. Some patients had been absorbed by the main workhouse
and the west wing was re-planned and re-built with male and female
receiving wards, an "Idiot Ward" and a residence for the chaplain.
(Laidlaw p. 69)

Union Workhouse on an 1862 map. The coloured areas are the imbecile airing
grounds. Yellow = female. Green = male. The imbecile wards are in the
adjacent building. This is the west wing of the House. Although many time
re-built, buildings on the west appear to have been used for mentally
handicapped people from the late 18th century through to the second half of
the twentieth.

1990 Patients from
Whitecroft transferred to Newcroft.
Newcroft, although a modern building, did not allow staff to keep patients
under observation effectively and high levels of violence developed. A new
purpose built unit, Sevenacres, was designed to clinical specifications.
Building began in July 1999 and was completed in
22 months. The cost was
5.2 million pounds. Whilst attempting to get away from an "institutional
feel" and be "homely", the unit seeks a "balance of observation and
privacy". There is a central point (the doughnut) from which the staff can
see both wings (male and female). In the intensive care unit, staff can see
into bedrooms. There is a "seclusion room", although the design of the
building has meant it has not been used much. Patients have gardens and an
opportunity to garden. (Video about Newcroft
and Sevenacres)

Sevenacres appears to incorporate many design principles that would have
been approved by
Jeremy Bentham and
John Conolly. An analysis of the similarities and differences
between the ideal early 19th century model and the ideal early 21st century
model of a mental health unit would be interesting.

"Sevenacres, which houses the Mental Health Unit, is also on
this site and is the base of the administration and management of the
Mental Health and Learning Disability Services. Also based here is the
Island Crisis Intervention Services and the Mental Health Assertive
Outreach Team. Other parts of this service are delivered from 17 properties
across the Island." (The Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS
Trust)

April 1890 Isle of Wight County Council established
1896:Isle of Wight (County) Lunatic Asylum Sandy Lane
Newport
[PO30 3EB] See also modern
streetmap and
1890s
maplinkArchitect: B.S.
Jacobs of Hull.
Peter
Cracknell classifies it as Compact Arrow.
Harold Bailey Shaw, previously a medical officer at the
Hampshire County Asylum was appointed Medical Superintendent in
August 1895, but started in September 1896. He died in office
in 1914. Several other asylum staff, as well as patients, came from
Hampshire.
"In the first Annual Report by the Medical Superintendent, he indicated
that a block to hold 50
private patients would soon be ready". "Soon after
opening a private patient block was available with a billiard room. This
was the block near the main gate separate from the rest of the hospital;
later it became an admission ward, and was named Tennyson Ward.
(p.99)
1899 Kelly's Directory page ---:
"The Isle of Wight County Lunatic Asylum, erected in 1896 at a cost of
£60,000 (not including equipment), is a building of red brick,
pleasantly situated about the centre of the Island; there is a
separate block employed for the accommodation of private paying patients;
the building is capable of holding 310 persons, and there are at present
(1898) 260 inmates". page ---:
County Lunatic Asylum. Harold Bailey Shaw BA, MB, BC, DPH superintendent;
Patrick Taffe Finn LRCP + S. Edinburgh, assistant superintendent;
William Morgans, clerk
4.2.1899
Freda Mew admitted to the private block. Previously in
The Limes - Her
certificates were signed by "J. Groves, M.B. and S.Foster, LRCP.Ed,
Newport". Trade directories show: Joseph Groves BA, MD, London, FGS, FR
Met. Soc. Glen cottage. Physician and medical officer for the Isle of Wight
rural sanitary district. Stanley Foster, LRCP + S. Ed. (of Coombs and
Foster, surgeons, 6 + 10 High Street) Arreton District Medical Officer and
Public Vaccinator fro Whippingham District, who lived at 6 High Street. His
partner, Milbourne Lascombe Bloom Coombs, LRCP, LRCS Edin., surgeon and
medical officer for Newport and Whippingham district Isle of Wight union
and public vaccinator for Newport borough, lived at 104 High Street,
1898-1903 Contracts for the reception of patients from
Croydon made by Visiting Committee of Isle of
Wight County Council. Other contracts with
West Sussex and London County Council
1901 census: Isle of Wight County
Lunatic Asylum, Whitecroft. It is in the civil parish of Carisbrooke, but
the ecclesiastical parish of St John the Baptist. Also in Carisbrooke, but
the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary the Virgin, are the Isle of Wight
Union Workhouse Parkhurst, Parkhurst Prison Convict Prison and Parkhurst
Barracks. On the 1866 Ordnance Survey map, Albany Barracks is just south of
the prison and the workhouse south-east of that.
1901
Occupations of women in private unit.
1911 Kelly's Directory page 677:
"The Isle of Wight County Lunatic Asylum, erected in 1896 at a cost of
£45,000 (not including equipment), is a structure of red brick,
pleasantly situated, nearly in the centre of the island, and includes a
separate block for private patients; the building is capable of holding 330
persons, and there are at present (1911) 316 inmates". page 678:
County Lunatic Asylum. Harold Bailey Shaw BA, MB, BC, DPH superintendent;
Arthur Francis Reardon LMSSA London, assistant medical officer; James H.
Green, clerk
January 1919 380 patients, including 58 private
patients, 38 patients from outside the island and seven "service" patients.
8.12.1921 Letter stating annual cost of Freda Mew's
maintenance about £130 a year.
1925: The Branch Secretary of the Nation Asylum Workers
Union at
Whitecroft was "Mr L.B. Sykes, County Mental Hospital, Whitecroft,
Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight"
1.1.1927: 328 patients of whom all but 54 were Rate
Aided. 119 were men, 209 women. In 1926 the proportion of recoveries to
admissions was 43.5% (One of the highest). The proportion of deaths to the
asylum population was 8.6%
Became Isle of Wight (County) Mental Hospital by
19291932 Dr Erskine, Medical Superintendent since 1915,
retired. Dr
Charles Davies-Jones (from Oxfordshire) succeeded. Dr A. Wood joined him in
1933. About this time "the
private patient block was converted into
an admission block". (p.103)
[See national changes]The following taken from the archives catalogue:
December 1933 'Programme of a mystery play in honour of the
Nativity of Our Lord' by Robert Hugh Benson
1937 Notes re arrangements for Christmas includes list of food
required.
Notes re arrangements for patients' holiday camps June 1937 and
July 193928.10.1937 Contrct to send some patients to
Basingstoke11.6.1938 Contract to send some mentally defective from the Isle
of Wight to
West Hartlepool, County Durham1938/1939 Plans and contract for a new nurses home
1939Papers giving details of arrangements for annual fete
1941-1943 Circulars and other papers re food rationing
1947 Correspondence and papers re Patients' Sports Day
1950Whitecroft Hospital, Newport1.3.1958 death of
Freda Mew, aged about 78
1960: 455 staffed beds, planned to be reduced to 170 by 1975
31.12.1975: 410 beds, only 270 of which were occupied. The 66% bed
occupancy was almost the lowest in England and Wales. 55 beds were in a
special "self care" unit or wards and 7 beds were in a rehabilitation ward.
1979:
327 beds
Closed 1990 "The few remaining patients were transferred to
a new ward, "Newcroft" at
St Mary's Hospital in Newport" (Andrew Crowther)
Gatcombe Valley -
OK - try one of these!26.8.2004Isle of Wight County Press3.9.2004Isle of Wight County Press

After 1932 a Mental Welfare Clinic, which also became a Child
Guidance
service, was established at the County Hall (Newport)

Shortly after the County Hall facility, a
weekly psychiatric out-patient clinic was established at
Ryde Hospital: the Royal Isle of Wight County Hospital,
West Street Ryde [PO33 2PD] which was established in 1849 as the
Royal Isle of Wight Infirmary (name changed 1905).
1979:
There were three acute general hospitals on the Island. Ryde
had 121 beds, Frank James (Cowes) had 31 beds and Shanklin had 33. No in-
patient psychiatric beds were planned for these hospitals, but they may
have had out-patient clinics.

St Mary's, Parkhurst, with 327 beds, was mainly long stay. A psychiatric
unit had been planned for it (since 1962 or earlier).

Whitecroft had 327 beds. It had been planned to close it when
the St Mary's Psychiatric Unit was opened.

Lainston House, WinchesterLicensed HouseA mansion and outhouses
asylum"A fine brick house of about 1700, with something older and something a
little younger"
(Pevsner's Buildings)
"There is a private lunatic asylum, situated in an ample
demesne of 40
acres, and approached by three avenues of trees. The house was built in the
reign of Charles 2nd, and was once the seat of Lord Bayning". (1868
Gazeteer)
1825 Leased to Dr Twynham - continuing so until 1847
(Pelham Warner citing a Sparsholt Village History book). [The
name is Twynam, without an h, in all original sources consulted - Apart
from one entry in the 1844 report as Twyman]
"From 1825-1846 Lainston was rented out as a lunatic asylum, Mr John
Twynham was the resident physician who lived in the house with his wife and
staff and about 80 patients were housed in huts around the grounds. Sadly
it was after this episode in the in the history of Lainston that when these
huts were being demolished, the workmen, using horses, pulled the roof from
the Chapel, which by now was in a bad state of repair - in order to sell
the lead."
(source)2.10.1828 John Twynam of Bishopstoke, age 29, bachelor,
married Mary Read of St John cum St Lawrence, Southampton, aged 30,
spinster, at St Lawrence.
July 1831: Thomas Miles criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum, Lainston House". He had been
tried for murder at Winchester. (HO 20/13)

Grove Place, Nursling, near SouthamptonLicensed HouseA mansion and outhouses
asylumPresent building probably erected between 1565 and 1576. It is on the
site of an older house.
"In 1831 the manor was bought by Dr. Edward Middleton who
transformed it into a lunatic asylum" But: Epiphany 1823 James
Banting,
criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum, Grave Place". He had been
tried for assault and sent from "Hampshire". (HO 20/13)February 1832 Thomas Randall criminal
lunatic, recorded "Lunatic Asylum, Southampton". He had been
previously held in a "Lunatic Asylum, Dorset". He had been tried for
murder at Winchester.
1844: Proprietor Mrs H. Middleton.
1.1.1844: 72 patients. 53 pauper and 19 private.
Weekly charge for paupers not stated.
Severely censured in 1844
Report:summary of
criticismsParry-Jones,
W.L.
1972 p.247: In 1853 "the Hampshire Visiting Magistrates
recommended the discontinuation of the licence granted to the proprietor of
Grove Place, Nursling, largely because of substantiated evidence of the
cruel and severe treatment of a patient.." (Eighth Report (1854) Lunacy
Commission, pp 19-20)
Parry-Jones,
W.L.
1972 p.88: In 1854 Dr James Baillie bought Grove Place,
paying a large sum of money for the good will. In their 1855 Report
(pages
20-21) the Lunacy Commissioners considered "A payment of this nature...
offers a strong temptation to those who purchase to curtail the comforts
and accommodation of the patients... in an attempt to reimburse themselves
out of the profits of the asylum". However, Parry Jones says "This
statement was contradicted in the next report and the licence was not
renewed". [I do not understand that]
"There is a private lunatic asylum, called Grove Place, which was
formerly a hunting-seat of Queen Elizabeth, and is approached by an avenue
of lime trees"
(1868 Gazeteer). In fact, it was not a
licensed house by 1867(see Rossbret). The avenue of lime trees may
be the trees framing the top picture on the Grove Place Prep Schools site
(below)
used as a farmhouse from 1867Now The Atherley & Grove Place Prep Schools, Grove Place,
Upton Lane, Nursling, Southampton SO16 0AB

Hampshire County AsylumSituated near the hamlet of
Funtley
in the parish of Fareham[map] This being a little north of
Portsmouth and east of Southampton. [map]Hospital database: "The first minute book of the
Committee of Visitors for erecting a County Lunatic Asylum is dated 1849 -
1853 (18M93) but is not with the main collection". See 1842-1844
InquirySimon Cornwall: Built: 1850-1852Architect: J. Harris
Opened 13.12.1852First Medical Superintendent: Dr Ferguson
20.8.1853 to 3.9.1861Harriet Warner a
patient in Knowle Lunatic Asylum. Her case notes say she was
"previously confined at
Lainston House".
1868 Overcrowding had led to
the removal of Portsmouth and Southampton patients1879Portsmouth Borough Asylum opened1881 Census: Hants County Lunatic
Asylum, Knowle, Fareham, Hampshire. Medical Superintendent: John Manley,
Physician, married, age 56.
1896
Isle of Wight County Asylum opened
1911:A child born to RN Stoker of Hants Lunatic
Asylum1919 Post Office Directory: Hampshire
County Lunatic Asylum. Knowle, Fareham, Henry Kingsmill Abbott BA, MD
superiintendent; William John MacKeown BA, MB, B,Ch, senioar assisstant
medical officer; Joseph William Rodgers, LRCS and LRCP Ireland, second
assistant medical offcer; Wilfred Metcalfe Chambers, LRCS and LRCP
Edinburgh, third assistant medical officer; Rev William Richard Williams
chaplain; John Railton Wyatt, clerk to the asylum and visitors; Frederick
Joyce, storekeeper; Miss Mary Heading, housekeeper.
Knowle Mental Hospital about 1923
1948: became Knowle Hospital1976: R. Bursell, History of Knowle Hospital (Hampshire
County
Asylum), 1852-1884 Duplicated typescript. Southampton University
Library
Closed 19962003 Susan Margaret Burt: "Fit objects for an asylum" : the
Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its patients, 1852-1899 Thesis
(Ph.D.) University of Southampton, Department of Sociology and Social
Policy.
Simon Cornwall:
Proposals for conversion to housing. Probably all housing now.
weblink to plans for Knowle Village
Jess Knowles: "the old site is not quite all houses. Ravenswood
House, the
regional medium secure unit, is still there and thriving.
Originally the secure unit moved into Ravenswood Ward the one time
admission ward for Knowle Hospital. The medium secure unit has grown,
but the old building is still there in the middle of it all."

26.7.1866
Hansard question
As there were 195 male and six female military service lunatics
at Bow, would 60 places be enough at Netley?
The "building now being erected", for insane soldiers was
placed at Netley in "consequence of the Report of the
Committee that sat in
1863, on the removal of the establishment from
Chatham. It could hardly be called an asylum, because the
patients were only placed there for the purpose of observation, and would
after a short period be removed to their friends, or to private asylums".

The average stay in D Block was five or six days. Soldiers were moved on.
Read, C.S. 1920 (preface) calls it a "Clearing Hospital" and
refers to "3,000 cases which were dispersed over various parts of the
United Kingdom".

World War 2 D block, Victoria House at Netley treated over 15000
patients, including Rudolf Hess

1950 an E block was added and the army psychiatric facility was
renamed Albert House. It continued to treat army personnel with psychiatric
illnesses and alcohol dependency problems. From 1960 Navy personnel was
also treated at Netley.

"Our mess-mates who had 'thrown-a-wobly' or who had witnessed
giant flesh eating monsters climbing onto their beds because of DT's, were
sent to Netley and not, emphatically not in naval speak terms, to BLOCK 'D'
or to Victoria House. Netley was the 'nut-house' and the butt of our jokes
and teasing. The word NETLEY was used in everyday speech by all sailors
and its applied meaning was universally understood."

1958 Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley closed - But not the
psychiatric hospital.

21.12.1976:Hansard: Planned closures: Queen Alexandra's
Military Hospital, Millbank: 1.4.1977 - Military Hospital, Colchester: by
1.1.1978 -
Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley: by 1.2.1978. Functions of all three
to be transferred to the new Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital at
Woolwich, due to be commissioned on 1.4.1977.

St Peter's Hospital, BristolThis 17th century building was destroyed by bombs in 1940. It stood
between St Peter's Church and the River Avon. The area is now Castle Park
Used as a workhouse from
1696.
Kathleen
Jones
says that "almost from its inception" the original building (The Mint) was
used for the "impotent poor" and other premises used as a "manufactuary".
An "early regulation" (Jones) recommended "the lunatic wards be floored
with planks".
Local physicians and surgeons attended patients without fee. In April
1768 a regulation said they should visit the "Frenzy Objects" once a week,
and also "such Objects as shall from time to time be brought in by Warrants
of Lunacy"
29.2.1814:
James
Cowles
Prichard a physician to to St Peters, which is described as
"having a
ward for lunatics"
1832 Due to overcrowding following cholera, most pauper patients moved
to Stapleton workhouse. Lunatics remained in Bristol.
Made a
"County
Asylum" under a local
Act (date not known, but before 1844)
1.1.1844: 72 patients. All pauper.
Treatment
praised
but
building criticised in 1844 Report

"By 1915 the Hospital became the Beaufort War Hospital, when
patients
were moved to other hospitals in the West, and the premises taken over by
the War Office to provide general hospital care for wounded soldiers."
(Glenside history)

"The hospital was handed back to the City of Bristol on the 28th February
1919".

"By 1921 the name was changed to the Bristol Mental Hospital,
originally
designed for 250 patients, it became very overcrowded, resulting in the
building being enlarged until its bed capacity reached 800. Many
improvements followed including, Out-patient departments, Pathology Dept.
Occupational Therapy, etc."

It became Glenside Hospital, Blackberry Hill, Stapleton,
Bristol, BS16 1DD. [Name changed 1959]
1960 1,150 beds, expected to fall to 800 by 1975
Late 1969 "My ... admission ... was a ... much more positive
experience." Judith Watson31.12.1977 633 beds
20.8.1994 Main hospital closed. It now houses the Faculty of
Health and Social Care of the University of
West of England
Rossbret says closed 1992 - But I think this should be 1994
There is a book: The Lunatic Pauper Palace. Glenside Hospital
Bristol 1861-1994

April 2002
Report of Bristol Mind User Focused Research Project:
"Blackberry Hill has one acute psychiatric inpatient ward and is
based on a site that acts as a teaching campus for Health and Social Care
students, including nurses. The site used to be called Glenside and
was an old
Victorian asylum which was wound down and closed in the 1990s. The
site also has a forensic medium secure unit called 'Fromeside' and a
recently opened 'Low secure -rehabilitation unit'. There are extensive
plans to expand forensic services on this site in the near future. The site
also has several outpatient facilities specialising in substance misuse and
a more general psychiatric outpatient facility. The nearest shops are about
a 15-minute walk and the site is surrounded by new build housing
developments. It is serviced by local public transport."

Julius Herrstein - Wrington - I am the deputy chairman of Glenside
Hospital Museum and I spent the morning showing visitors round the museum,
in fact, this morning we had a lady from Göttingen, Germany.

Glenside Hospital was built in 1861 and served the city until 1994 when
apart from two wards and the forensic unit it, was passed over to
the
University of West of England.

What used to be the patients' chapel is now the museum and it is the latest
museum of Bristol. We are open every Wednesday and Saturday morning from
10a.m until 1.00 p.m depending how many visitors we entertain.
If we have no visitors then we close at 12.30

The museum is registered charity we have no admission charges but if
anybody is generous enough to put a pound or two in the box we give them a
few booklets to describe life in the hospital as it was experienced by
patients in the past. The museum is situated between Fishponds and
Stapleton, the entrance is opposite the Old Tavern

Barrow HospitalBarrow Gurney Bristol BS19 3SG (map)See
Glenside history1930 Bristol City Council bought 260 acres of land at
Barrow Gurney, North Somerset, eleven miles from
Fishponds.
"landscaped grounds to purpose-built hospital, encompassing ancient
woodlands. Hospital built 1934-1937.
May 1938 Barrow Hospital received its first patients
Visiting Consultants were common to
Fishponds and Barrow Hospital
3.5.1939 Official opening by Sir
Lawrence Brock CBE, Chairman of The Board of Control3.9.1939 Became a Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital for the
duration
of the war
Autumn 1946 Returned to Bristol City, relieving overcrowding at
Fishponds1948 Under the National Health Service
Fishponds and Barrow Hospital were run under joint management
1951 290 beds
1960 453 beds, expected to fall to 200 by 1975
May 1965 "9 p.m. on a Friday night was definitely the wrong time
to be admitted".
Judith Watson31.12.1977 356 beds
"Among Returns of
Glenside Hospital"
External links:
Trees at Barrow Hospital"to close"April 2002
Report of Bristol Mind User Focused Research Project:
"Barrow is an old hospital site. Many of the wards are in need of major
refurbishment and have shared accommodation in dormitories. It is
situated about seven miles outside Bristol near the village of Long
Ashton. A hospital bus runs between the hospital and the Bristol Royal
Infirmary near the city centre. Barrow is surrounded by protected
woodlands and the wards are built around a horseshoe shaped driveway
about a mile all round. There are no local community facilities off site,
the village being about a 25-minute walk from the hospital."
The future of mental health services15.12.2005Apologies for dirt

Farleigh Hospital, Flax Bourton, Bristol, BS19 3QX, was the
Bedminster Workhouse from the 1830s to 1929. It then became Cambridge
House It closed in 1993, but the building remains as it is
listed.

See Peter Higginbotham's site: "The Bedminster
Union was renamed Long Ashton in 1899. Between 1929 and 1956, the workhouse
became Cambridge House, a mental deficiency colony run by Somerset County
Council. It subsequently became known as Farleigh Hospital, which was the
centre of a scandal in
1971 when two members of the nursing staff spoke out
about the appalling treatment being meted out to the vulnerable patients.
The former hospital site has now been redeveloped for other uses although
much of the original building has been preserved."

The Burdens were the family behind
Stoke Park Colony and other "Institutions for Persons
Requiring Care and Control". There were three of them:
Rev Harold Nelson Burden (1859-1930)Mrs Katharine Mary Burden (1856-1919)Mrs Rosa Gladys Burden (1871-1939)26.9.1888 Harold Nelson Burden married Catherine Mary Garton at
St John, Hoxton.
1895 Harold and Katherine Burden opened The Royal Victoria Home,
near Horfield Prison, Bristol, for the care of inebriate women and girls in
moral danger - After the passing of the
Inebriate Act of 1898
they founded the Brentry Certified Inebriate
Reformatory for men and women, which
became the 'Brentry
Certified Institution' within the meaning of the
Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 and 1919 on 3.1.1922.
In 1901 Harold (aged 41) and Katharine (aged 43) were in charge
of the
Home for Inebriates at Brentry, Westbury on Trym, Bristol. One of the
officers was
Gladys Williams, store keeprer (clothing) aged 32, born Cumberland.
1902 Harold Burden founded the
National Institution for
Persons
Requiring Care and Control
1904 Harold Burden appointed to the Royal Commission
enquiring into
the care of the feeble-minded.
1909 Harold and Katherine Burden opened the
Stoke Park Colony and later acquired Heath House and
Grove
Beech House, followed by Hanham Hall and Leigh
Court and Whittington Hall, Chesterfield.
1911 Gladys Rose Williams, born about 1874 in Whitehaven,
Cumberland, was
living with Harold and Katharine as their "adopted daughter" at 34
Westbourne Gardens, South Paddington West.
25.9.1919 Katherine Mary died in
Bristol. She bequethed £4,256 14s 2d to Harold.
1920 Harold N Burden's
marriage to Rosa G. Williams was registered in
the April-June quarter at St George Hanover Square, London.
15.5.1930 Harold died and Rosa was appointed Warden in his
place.
September 1939 The death of Rosa G Burden born about 1871, aged
68, was registered
in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Rosa Gladys died Clevedon
Hall, Clevedon,
Somerset on 17.9.1939 leaving an estate of £165,164 1s 7d.

Stoke Park Colony was
the first in the British Isles to be certified under the
Act of 1913 as an Institution for Mental Defectives.

1930 Harold Burden made financial provision for a
centre at Stoke Park for research
into the causes, treatment and prevention of mental deficiency.
He appointed Professor R. J. A. Berry as Director
of the Research Centre.

"Historical publications from mental handicap hospitals
have not been numerous... The scope of the booklet,
however, gives the impressive list of research articles and
reports which have emanated from the group. There are,
besides, chapters on the lives of the founders, the Rev H. N.
Burden and the two Mrs Burdens, and of the two outstand
ing research directors, R. J. A. Berry and R. M. Norman, a
full history of the Stoke Park group of hospitals and of the
Burden Institute, and some delightful illustrated notes on the
various manor houses dotted around Bristol which constitute the group".
(Walk, A. 1982)

"...there were
twenty-one insane persons, of whom one female was constantly under
restraint; another was under excitement, and secluded in a cell; and one
man had been in the house four months without any medicine, although his
case appeared susceptible of benefit from medical treatment."
(1844
Report
p.98)

Kingsdown House, Box, WiltshireLicensed Housemay have been a madhouse since about 1615 as it was claimed in
1815 that there had been a madhouse in Box for 200 years. (map showing Box)On 1815 listPlace: Kingsdown. Name: Changworthy (Langworthy?)
1.1.1844 137 patients. 101 pauper and
36 private.
Weekly charge for
paupers: 8/- to 9/-
SEVERELY CENSURED IN 1844
REPORTProprietor 1844: C.C. Langworthy M.D.
The proprietor, Dr R.A. Langworthy, became a patient in Fishponds
(below) on 23.3.1847. In May 1848 it was alleged to the Lunacy Commission
that the interested motives of his wife were keeping him there, although he
had recovered. (MH50
3.5.1848)1881
Census: Kingsdown Asylum, Box.
Charles Knight Hitchcock, aged 32, born Market Lavington
see Fiddington
House, Physician and his wife, Alice, aged 25, born Bottisham,
Cambridge, with six month baby son, Humphrey K., born Market Lavington.
Matron of Asylum (Hospital), Jane Elliott, unmarried, born Box.
Visitor: Harriett Elliott, widow, aged 59, also born Box. All but one of
the inmates are described as "Insane Patient". M. W., unmarried famale
born Warminster, Wiltshire, is described as "Boarder"
Early 20th century:external link to photograph -
archive

"The postal address of Kingsdown, Box, Chippenham, Wiltshire for at least a
hundred years have been known almost world wide For Kingsdown House became
one of the very best nursing homes for the very rich people of the land
that had mental trouble. In fact Kingsdown House was called an asylum and
it was run by a Doctor Mac Bryant who had a large staff of high-class
nurses of both male and female also doctors on hand, and of course, there
were a very large staff of servant girls and the very best cooks and
kitchen maids" (from The Kingsdown Memories of Victor Painter (born 1906, died
2002)archive. See part eightarchive)

Fishponds, Stapleton, BristolLicensed HouseOriginally (1738) opened as Mason's Madhouse by
Joseph
Mason in Stapleton, it moved to Fishponds in 1760.
1779 Death of Joseph Mason, the founder
Until 1788, Mason's married daughters, Elizabeth Cox and Sarah
Carpenter, continued the asylum.
1787 A birth in the Bompas family who worshiped at
Broadmead Baptist Church, Bristol. George Gwinnett Bompas senior
and his wife
(born Selina Carpenter in 1767, died 1809) had a daughter, Sarah, who died
in 1810.
6.6.1789 Birth, in Bristol, of George Gwinnett Bompas(s)
(junior), who became a doctor and Superintendant of Fishponds Lunatic
Asylum. He died in 1847.
1788 Joseph Mason Cox (1763-
1818), a grandson of Joseph Mason, took Fishponds over. His Practical
Observations on Insanity in 1806 propounded the theory that
insanity can be cured by inducing the symptoms of severe physical illness
in patients.
15.2.1791 Birth of Charles Carpenter Bompass (Son of George
Gwinnett senior and Selina). He became Serjeant-at-Law and is thought to be
the inspiration for Charles Dickens's Serjeant Buzfuz in Pickwick Papers.
Henry Mason Bompas was his son.
2.6.1793 Birth of Joseph Cox Bompass, later Joseph Cox Cox,
Physician of Park St Bristol, who died in 1851. (Son of George Gwinnett
senior and Selina). Not long before he died, he took over Fishponds from
his nephew.
About Spring 1806 the Baptist minister Robert
Hall became a patient of Dr Cox. He spent about a year here,
before returning to his relatives in Leicestershire. Robert Hall spoke his
mind. He would speak openly of the necessity of ameliorating the condition
of the insane. At a large party he showed people the scars on his head to
illustrate his point, saying "for these are the wounds that I received in
the house of my friends". His biographer thinks they were the result of a
blow from a keeper. However, Cox in 1806 recommended shaving a patient's
head and rubbing in a powder that produced a "crop of eruptions, very
similar to those of small-pox...Blisters, issues, setons etc"
By 1812: George Gwinnett
Bompas(s), surgeon, Superintendent of Fishponds Lunatic Asylum. He was the
cousin of the proprietor, Joseph Mason Cox, and took over Fishponds after
his death. He was
married to Frances Henrietta Smith (daughter of Joseph Smith) who was born
in 1792 at Bath Easton, and died in 1863.
6.9.1812 Birth of George Joseph Bompas (died 23.6.1889), (eldest
child?) of Dr George Gwinnett junior and Frances. He became MD and
Schoolmaster in Fishponds House.
4.10.1816 Birth of Mason Cox Bompas, another
son of Dr George Gwinnett junior and Frances.
1818 Death of Joseph Mason Cox
24.1.1823 Birth of Joseph Carpenter Bompas (died 1855), another
son of Dr George Gwinnett junior and Frances. He became MD and proprietor
of Fishponds. He married Ruth Conquest Bompas (born about 1823), who was
head of a school in Middlesex in 1881.
19.4.1835 Birth of Charlotte Shay Bompas, a daughter of Dr
George Gwinnett junior and Frances.
By
1881 she was a patient in
the
Warneford Lunatic Asylum, Oxford1.1.1844 49 patients. 1 pauper and 48
private. Proprietor G.G. Bompas MD.
1847 Death of George Gwinnett Bompas senior
1848 Gloucester JPs Inquiry: Proprietor, Dr Joseph Carpenter
Bompas accused of numerous misdemeanours such as receiving patients without
certificate.
Evidence presented of harsh and neglectful treatment.
The evidence taken on the inquiry into the management [by J.C.
Bompas] of the Fishponds Private Lunatic Asylum Ordered by the last
Court of Quarter Sessions to be printed, and sent to every acting
magistrate in the County of Gloucester. 1848. 139 pages. It included
illustrations.
Dr J.C. Bompas was
eventually prevented from holding a licence and the asylum was managed by
other members of the family, including Dr J.C. Cox "late of Naples". Joseph
Carpenter Bompas died in 1855 "late of Adelaide, Australia".
1851 Death of Dr Joseph Cox Cox
1852 Fishponds taken over by Dr J.D.F. Parsons, previously
proprietor of
White Hall House, near Bristol
1859 Closed. Parry-Jones, (1972) (p.277) links the closure to
the opening of Bristol
Borough Asylum in the Fishponds district of Bristol
1871The Best Means of Evangelising the Masses, a paper read
at the annual meeting of the Baptist Union by Henry Mason Bompas.

Daniel Iles was a yeoman farmer of Kempsford
12.3.1792 Daniel and Ann Iles christened a son, Alexander Iles,
at Fairford.
Alexander Iles worked in asylums in London
28.9.1816 Mary Anderson married Alexander Iles at Spitalfields
Christ Church, Stepney, London
26.5.1815 John Hitchman born Northleach, Gloucestershire. He
learnt Greek and Latin, but had to go elsewhere for English and
Mathematics.
about 1818 Mary Ann Iles born Hackney
19.9.1819 Alexander and Marianne Iles christened a son, Daniel
Iles, at Fairford.
23.9.1819 Charles and Anne Cornwall christened a son, Charles
Philip Durell Cornwall, at Fairford.
22.10.1820 Charles and Anne Cornwall christened a son, James
Cornwall, at Fairford.
5.3.1823 Alexander and Mary Iles christened a son, Alexander
Iles, at Fairford.

1823 Alexander Iles obtained a licence for ten patients and took
patients into his own house.
1827 Thirteen patients
1829 Forty patients
1832 John Hitchman was apprenticed to Dr Charles Cornwall of
Fairford for five years to learn his profession. Shelagh Diplock says that
Charles Cornwall was the first physician to the asylum.
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act "increased the intake of pauper
admissions and Alexander quickly started to build to accommodate them."
Before 1835? John Hitchman married Mary Ann Iles
September 1836 John Hitchman "went to London and gained some
qualifications (MRCS, LSA)" (source)]
1838 John Hitchman obtained the diploma of M.R.C.S. and the
L.S.A.
"He then returned to Fairford to act as assistant to his former master, and
shortly afterwards became the resident medical officer of the Fairford
Lunatic Asylum, now known as 'The Retreat'.
1841 census over 119 patients
1.1.1844 140 patients. 119
pauper and 21 private.
ON 1844 LIST OF BEST CONDUCTED.
Commended, along with
Fiddington House and
Belle Vue, in Wiltshire,
and Dunston Lodge, in
Durham, because it had a farm.
1845 John Hitchman at Hanwell1850 Fairford Retreat (Lunatic Asylum) Fairford --- Messrs
Alexander Iles & Sons, proprietors and managers ; Mr James Cornwall,
resident surgeon.
Slater's Directory of Gloucestershire1856 Alexander Iles died. Succeeded by his eldest son, Daniel
Iles and his wife Susan. [Their eldest son also Daniel. Younger son Albert,
married to Ellen Matilda.]
1859 national
comparisons - 77 patients: 25 paupers and 52 private.
1861 49 patients.
Albert Iles moved back to Fairford from his doctor's practice in
Cirencester. He bought Croft House and had hoped to join Dr Charles
Cornwall's practice.
July 1863 Albert Iles killed in an accident, leaving Ellen
pregnant with their eighth child.
1864 Daniel Iles junio qualified as a surgeon and joined the
family businees shortly afterwards.
Before 1870 Ellen Matilda Iles set up a small female private
asylum in Croft House.
1872 Retirement of John and Mary Ann Hitchman from
Derby County Asylum. "Leaving Mickleover, he went to reside at
Cheltenham for a short period" (BMJ Obituary)
1875 "for family reasons" John and Mary Ann Hitchman moved to
Fairford.
1881Census "Fairford Retreat Lunatic Asylum". Daniel
Iles (age 62) Proprietor of Fairford Retreat - Farming 215 acres and
Employing 9 Men, 4 Boys and 2 Women. Susan, his wife, age 65, is the
matron.
1881
Census for Daniel Iles surgeon1881Census for Ellen Matilda Iles1881
Census for John and Mary Hitchman in retirement
1881
Census for Charles CornwallMarch 1884 Death of Mary Ann Hitchman, aged 66, registered
Cirencester
1883 Death of Susan Iles
1887 Death of Daniel Iles
Wednesday 5.4.1893 Death of John Hitchman, aged 77, at his home,
the Laurels, Fairford. Registered Cirencester in June 1893.
22.4.1893 John Hitchman's
Obituary in British Medical Journal1901 The Retreat sold to Dr A C King Turner
1944 The Retreat closed. Building later became
"Coln House School - a special school with fifty five... pupils with
behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, aged nine to sixteen."

Gloucester Lunatic Asylum (Gloucester)A
County/Subscription HospitalOriginally planned (1793) as a Subscription
Hospital by the governors of the Gloucester Infirmary.
In
1806,
one of those involved, George Onesiphorus Paul, gave evidence about the
pressure on County funds of the
1800 Criminal Lunatics Act, and the need for asylums that would share
costs. This was made possible by the 1808 County Asylums Act, under which
the asylum was eventually opened.
A union of the county, city and subscribers was agreed in 1813,
for the
purpose of building the asylum.
Opened
24.7.1823Original accommodation for 120: 30 of each sex, private and pauper.
The first asylum became Horton Road Hospital, Horton Road,
Gloucester, GL1
3PS.

The County/City and Subscription parts of Gloucester Lunatic Asylum
separated in 1856 and the asylum became a county asylum for pauper patients only. A
new
asylum
(Barnwood House)
was built for the private patients (opened
in
1860).
1881 Census: Gloucester County Lunatic Asylum, Wotton St Mary, Gloucester,
England. Assistant Medical Officers (both unmarried surgeons): William
Kebbell, aged 29, and Edward George Thomas, aged 27.

A second Gloucestershire County Asylum opened in
1884. It was
under the same management as the first, and had the same superintendent.

Architect: Giles and Gough -
Broad Arrow1971 Hospital Statistics group Coney Hill with
Horton
Road. The combined hospitals had 1,251 beds and 1,114 patients.
In
1979, Horton Road had 353
beds and Coney Hill had 467 for mental
illness. The Twyver Unit at Coney Hill had 60 beds for mental handicap.
Horton Road, the original asylum, closed in 1988. It is a listed
building. For plans to develop, see
Redrow developersConey Hill Hospital closed in the mid 1990s

Barnwood House Hospital for the InsaneBarnwood Road, Gloucester
A Hospital.
Opened 18601881
Census: Superintendent:
Fredrick NeedhamBarnwood House Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases from an
unknown date to about 1948Barnwood House HospitalHospital closed 1968Manor House Nursing Home (Barnwood House Trust)Closed 1977

map showing Salisbury with arrow pointing to Laverstock
The Finch family had asylums in London and Wiltshire
William Finch
William Finch (surgeon), grandson of above, took over Laverstock in
1799. His name is on an advertisement of 26.12.1807
Entry in Fellows list of the R.M.+C.S. 1843: "elected 1841, William
Finch, M.D., F.L.S., Laverstock-hall, Salisbury."
William Corbyn Finch (born about 1800? died 7.1.1848, at some time
owned Laverstock
External Link: William Corbyn Finch -
archiveWilliam Corbyn Finch (eldest son of above) was born 1833 in
Kensington and christened 17.1.1840 in
Fisherton Anger, Wiltshire.

The mid-Wiltshire asylums. Belle Vue and Fiddington were considered
by the Metropolitan Commissioners in 1844 as amongst the best outside
London. Both had large farms which
provided employment for their pauper
patients. The proprietors were non-medical men, but the houses had
"resident physicians or apothecaries" (1844 Report p.41). Both provided a
good diet for their pauper patients, and the commissioners commended their
dormitories, saying they had "seldom seen any sleeping rooms for paupers
more comfortable, and more cleanly or better ventilated, than some of the
dormitories in the licensed house at
Bethnal Green,
Fairford, Devizes and Market Lavington".
(1844
Report pp 12-13)

Fiddington House, Market Lavington, WiltshireLicensed House1.1.1844 180 patients.
144 pauper and 36 private.
Proprietor: R. Willett
Weekly charge for
paupers: 8/-
ON 1844 LIST OF BEST CONDUCTED.
HAD A FARM.
William Charles Hood, a resident physician at Fiddington House, became
medical superintendent of the second Middlesex County Asylum in June 1851,
then superintendent of Bethlem, then Lord Chancellor Visitor in Lunacy.
1851 Census
Worthy Dunford
(christened Great Cheverell 3.7.1825, died 1885, married Mary
Watts, 1.11.1849 in Great Cheverell) was Assistant at Lunatic Asylum
(Fiddington Parish. Wife and baby Benjamin at home in Great Cheverell). By
1861, he was a millwright in Great Chervil. In 1881, he and daughter Emily
are at Great Cheverell, but his wife Mary is a patient in Devizes Lunatic
Asylum.
1870: Licensed to Dr C Hitchcock
(See Kingsdown House)1881 Census Fiddington House,
Lavington West:
Charles Hitchcock, widower, age 69, born Bushton Clyffe Pypard, Wiltshire,
Physician MRCL FSA RCP. Elizabeth Watts, House Keeper, widow, age 46, born
Market Lavington. Hospital Matron. George Gusdale Hicks, Boarder, age 45
Coberley, Gloucester, Clergyman Without Cure Of Souls. Other inmates are
entered as Patient.

Somerset runs south from the river Avon, and Bristol and Bath, to Dorset
and Devon. Taunton is at the Dorset/Devon end of the county. [See St Thomas's, Exeter.] Many unions in north
and east Somerset may have sent paupers to licensed houses in or near
Bristol, but across the Gloucesterishire border, or Bath, or further into
Wiltshire on the east. (See counties map)

In 1844 Somerset had almost as many pauper
lunatics as Devon
(1844 Report appendix D). The 1844 Report, appendix F shows 584 pauper
lunatics and idiots chargeable to Somerset unions; 12 in county asylum/s;
160 in licensed houses; 153 in a workhouse and 259 with friends or
elsewhere. All of Somerset was organised in unions, so the 572 (yes) total
in appendix D, compares with the estimated total of 611 for Devon.
Appendix D makes an estimate of 103 pauper lunatics not in unions, which
it adds to 508 (yes) in unions to give 572 as the estimated total.
Accommodation for paupers in licensed houses within Somerset is given as
73, so the majority of Somerset paupers in licensed houses were outside the
county.

Fivehead House, Taunton, Somerset1815: Proprietor "Mr Gillett" (presumably
Joseph Gillett)
who Edward Wakefield told the 1815
Select Committee "bragged of having been a keeper at
Bethlem, and was sent from that hospital to
Exeter Asylum, from whence he came to keep
this house for himself"
Succeded as proprietor by W.E. Gillett
1828 Business moved to Fairwater House
Parry-Jones,
W.L.
1972 p.80)

Fairwater House, Staplegrove, near Taunton, SomersetLicensed House1830 Pigot's: William Edward Gillett Fairwater house lunatic
asylum
1.1.1844 52 patients. 6 pauper and 46 private.
Proprietor: W.E. Gillett, surgeon
It seems the buildings are now part of Taunton School. See Ben
Grove's web site, which says:
"Originally Taunton School was an asylum but later it became a small
school. Founded in 1847 ... it was originally in houses in Wellington Road.
The present school opened in Fairwater House in 1870"

Somerset County Asylum for Pauper Lunatics opened 1.3.1848 at
Wells. Built for 400 patients, it had 416 in 1858. Situated close to
Wells.
Architect: Scott &
Moffatt. Later additions by
HineCorridor formBecame Somerset and Bath Asylum about 1880 (named used by
next asylum from 1897)
Wells Mental Hospital by 1929Photo: "The Mental Hospital Wells December 1933" Stage performance
Photo: "The Mental Hospital Concert Party December 1934" Violinist
Joseph Hall.
21.10.1939: Bosley family move to Mendip. Soon after "with
already approximately 950 patients of its own,
Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, was converted into a
military hospital, so all the patients (but without the staff) were
evacuated to Wells. There were now 1,300 patients"
1960s? Pantomimes: "The pantomime was held in the Hall
throughout the week bordering January and February. Three nights were for
patients from Mendip,
Tone Vale (near Taunton),
Fishponds and other
hospitals including the Priory Hospital in Wells, and for the Darby and
Joan clubs, Coaches came from quite a distance"
Mendip Hospital, Bath Road, Wells, BA5 3DJ
Closed 1991 "Now sympathetically restored" (Peter
Cracknell)2000Memories of Mendip Hospital by Josie Bosley,
published by Gerald
Burton
The website of the Friends of Mendip Hospital Cemetery contains some
history

St Thomas's Hospital, Exeter, DevonThe hospital appears to have served
Dorset,
Somerset,
Devon and
CornwallBowhill House purchased in
1801
for use as an asylum.
Cost about £2650, including the cost of the furniture & repairs.
Joseph Gillett as Director was recommended by
John Haslam of Bethlem.
Mrs Gillett was housekeeper.
By 1815 Mr Gillett had
established his own asylum.
July 1817answers enquiry about religious provision1823 Paupers confined to the 15/- class, wheras previously they
could be in the 10/6d class, now reserved for poor non-paupers.
(Hervey,
1980, p.18)
1824 Under influx of parish applications for pauper admissions,
Governors complain that the county ought to have a county asylum
(Hervey,
1980, p.6)
1830Stoke Damerel opened
1835Plympton opened1.1.1844 48 patients. 1 pauper and
47 private.
Superintendent: Luke Ponsford, Surgeon
Weekly charge for paupers 15/-
July 1845Devon County Asylum opened. Pauper lunatics
removed from St Thomas's "as the majority were incurable" Nick Hervey
(1980
p.58). Nick says that before 1845, St Thomas's "took as many paupers as
their finances could sustain, and as many as their parishes would support"
Became Wonford House HospitalSimon Cornwall:
Wonford House built: 1865. Architect: WF Cross
In
1979:Exe Vale Hospital (Wonford Branch), Dryden
Road,
Wonford, Exeter, EX2 5AF
1979:
110 beds
Hervey, N.B. 1980Bowhill House. St Thomas's Hospital for Lunatics. Asylum for the Four
Western Counties. 1801-1869Simon Cornwall:
Leased to a mental health trust. Not expected to close.

One extra block of buildings was added in 1905 to house lunatics and
alcoholics. Block numbers were replaced with letters and names in 1924.
Within each block the wards were then numbered 1, 2 or 3. "The block for
housing the lunatics and alcoholics was apparently just known as K block".
(external source)

Cornwall County Asylum (Bodmin)A
County/Subscription HospitalIt appears (below) that subscriptions for an asylum commenced before
the decision to construct a county asylum
The archives for R Rogers and Son, Solicitors in Helston (Lands End end
of Cornwall) include
correspondence from September 1807 to February 1808 re committal of John
Cornish, resident at East Stonehouse (Plymouth, Devon), chargeable to
Helston, to
Exeter lunatic asylum ("seized with a down right madness in his
brain")
Administrative records from
1809. "Foundation Year: 1815" The following
from Cornwall Quarter Sessions Records Order Books [reference QS/1]
catalogue of Cornwall Record Office:
Bodmin: 2.10.1810: Following
Act to deal with maintenance of pauper
and criminal lunatics, notice to be given in local newspapers
that
consideration to be given at next sessions at Lostwithiel on
15.1.1811 for providing a lunatic asylum. Bodmin:
8.10.1811: Four magistrates to form committee to consider the
proposal. Robert Walker, clerk. To report proceedings at an
adjournment of the sessions at St Austell on 26.11.1811.
Lostwithiel:
14.1.1812: Resolved unanimously to establish lunatic
asylum in county to provide for number of lunatics, not to exceed seventy.
Also resolved "with the view of extending the benefits of such an asylum to
Lunatics of a Higher Class who are not objects of the Poor Rate" to
continue the voluntary contribution already in existence. Committee of nine
Visiting Justices appointed to superintend building and management of the
asylum. Committee of five JPs appointed to confer with committee of
subscribers for benefit of "Higher Class" lunatics. Chairman requested to
tell Lord Warden of the Stannaries of the court's appreciation of the fact
that the
Prince Regent [Duke of Cornwall, a large part of whose income
came from the County] had agreed to be patron of the intended asylum.
Opened
1820.
Accommodation
for 102
Radial and Corridor form1.1.1844: 153 patients. 133 pauper and 20 private.
Weekly charge for
paupers: from outside Cornwall: 10/6. (Cornwall
paupers: 5/6d)
[Notice that Plympton
House, in Devon, charged the same for paupers as Cornwall County
charged for paupers from outside Cornwall]
Became St Lawrence's Hospital, Westheath Avenue, Bodmin, PL31
2QT
Autumn 2002: Reported closed, empty building fire damaged.

Redruth Union Workhouse, CornwallA Workhouse Asylum"Wards exclusively appropriated to
lunatics"
(1844
Report
p.10)
Visited 6.10.1843
(1844
Report
p.232)
41 Insane paupers (of whom six were idiots), but also "5 others of weak
intellect, and unable to take care of themselves" who had not been included
in the return of lunatics made to the Clerk of the Peace in 1842.
"Several of them were violent, and at times required restraint"
(1844
Report
pp 98 + 232)

For central Wales: An adequate
Shropshire Asylum (England) offically opened
on
28.3.1845.
An
earlier proposal (July 1842) that Montgomery and
Shropshire
should share
the costs had fallen through mainly because of the constraints of
two languages. "Welsh patients would have been treated as one class".
Agreement was eventually reached between the English and Welsh counties in
April 1846. Joint provision meant an additional wing had to be
built.
Shropshire and Wenlock Borough Lunatic Asylum (1845-1846)
Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Counties and Wenlock Borough Lunatic
Asylum (1846-1851)
Shropshire and Montgomeryshire and Wenlock Borough,
Shrewsbury and
Oswestry Lunatic Asylum (1851-1863)
Lunatic Asylum for the Counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the
Borough of Much Wenlock (1864-1911)
1881
Census: Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury
(Shrewsbury St Julian) Shropshire. Physician Superintendent: Arthur
Strange (aged 37, married)
"In 1911 the agreement between Salop and Montgommery was dissolved.
resulting in 149 Mongomershire patients being transfreed to other asylums"
[Note Mid Wales] "and releasing more places for Salopians."
--
The history continues below --

For north Wales: In 1844 an asylum was about to be
erected for
Denbigh
and Flint. A North Wales (5 counties) County Asylum was opened
14.11.1848, at
Denbigh, for Flint, Denbigh, Merioneth, Caenarvon and Anglesea.
[27.10.1848 Archives XD2/22589: Letter: Richard A. Poole, Caernarfon to
Lord Newborough, refers to an account sent by the clerk of the North Wales
Lunatic Asylum at Denbigh. It will open on November 14, to receive 80
patients. It has not been decided when the full number of patients will be
received. This will probably depend on the payments of the remaining quota
from the contributory counties.]
Corridor form22.7.1873 Archives XQA/G/170 Letter from Mr Robinson (Clerk to
the visitors, the North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum) to Mr T. Poole,
Esq., Clerk of the Peace, Caernarfon, stating that the rate of payment, for
Pauper Patients will be increased from 8/2d to 8/9d per week.
1881
Census: North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum, Denbigh,
Denbigh, Wales. The Medical Superintendent, William Williams (aged 35,
unmarried) was being visited by his cousins, Hermina Eleanor (aged 13) and
Elizabeth Maude (aged 11) Williams on census night.
1900 Archives X/POOLE/825 Circular letter from the Clerk of
Caernarfonshire County Council re the proposals for an Act for the
dissolution of a Joint Counties Union for the North Wales Counties Lunatic
Asylum
1.1.1914 Archives ZQS/H.1914/9 List of Pauper Lunatics in the
North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum, Denbigh. Attached: Note from the
Asylum's Clerk with tables showing the number of patients. Attached: Table
showing the Quota of Patients for Denbigh, Flint, Anglesey, Caernarfon and
Merioneth [Meirionnydd], also the number of Patients belonging to each
county resident in the Asylum.
1914 Hilary Archives ZQS/H.1914/34 Report of the representatives
appointed by the County Council to attend a conference, convened by the
Committee of Visitors of the North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum at Denbigh
on the steps to be taken to administer the
Mental Deficiency Act, 1913.
1925: The Branch Secretary of the Denbigh branch of the
National Asylum Workers Union was Mr T. Hughes, who lived at 1 Brynnffynon
Terrace, Denbigh
1.1.1927: 1,078 patients of whom all but 126 were Rate
Aided.
541 were men, 537 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 40.2%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 7.8%
December 1927 Name given as the North Wales Counties Mental
Hospital on a patient's death certiicate
By 1948 the North
Wales Hospital for Nervous and Mental Disorders.
1974 Article by M.R. Olsen "Founding of the Hospital for the
Insane Poor, Denbigh" in Denbighshire Historical Society
Transactions volume 23 (1974), pages 193-217.
From about 1981) the North
Wales Hospital, Denbigh, LL16 5SS. (LL16 5SR locates site)
mapClosed 1995Autumn 2002 information: "architecturally superb remains
standing
although neglected whilst its fate is undecided". External linkVisit Denbighweb.
CLick Buildings/PLaces for pictures of the asylum.
North Wales Hospital Historical SocietyHospital records are at Gwynedd Archives, Caernarfon Record Office
Archon Code : 219.
(website)

For south east Wales: A joint Monmouth,
Hereford
(England),
Brecon and
Radnor County Asylum was opened in 1.12.1851 at Abergavenny,
Monmouthshire.
This was the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum from 1851 to 1897
1881 Census: Joint Counties
Lunatic
Asylum, Abergavenny, Monmouth, Wales. Medical Superintendent not recorded.
Assistant Medical Officers: James Glendinning, (unmarried, aged 34, born
Scotland) and
William F. Nelis (unmarried, aged 34, born Victoria, Australia).
The census gives the full names of patients in this asylum, not just
initials as is usual with asylums.
just Monmouthshire Lunatic Asylum from 1897.
1901 Census William F. Nelis M.D.(Durham), L.R.C.P.(Edin.),
County Lunatic Asylum, Old Monmouth Road
It was Monmouthshire Mental
Hospital from 1916 to 1923. Pen-Y-Val Hospital until 1950, and then
Pen-Y-Fal Hospital, Old Monmouthshire Road, Abergavenny, NP7 5YY
County Asylums website

In 1903 a
Mid Wales Counties Mental Hospital opened at Brecon (also
called
Brecon and Radnor Asylum). ["Talgarth, Brecon and Radnor Asylum was
opened around 1900 (1901 over the door) It closed about April 2000."
(geomancer - asylums forum)]
Compact Arrow design.
Now Mid Wales Hospital,
Talgarth,
Brecon, LD3 ODS.
31.12.1977: 422 beds
1979 Listed under Powys Health Authority. The only mental
illness hospital. Powys appears to be
the old
Brecknock, Radnor and Montgomery
"A small welsh county asylum". Considered surplus to
requirements about 1994, put on the market in 1997 and sold in 1999,
It was considered as a Prison or for Asylum Seekers, but rejected for both.
Owned by
PRYA, various businesses are located there. The picture was
taken by Nigel Roberts. (map) -
(multimap).
Powys Tourist Board has a map

For south west Wales: In 1847 a union of
Glamorgan, Carmathen and Pembroke
was contemplated. This opened as
The United Lunatic Asylum for Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glamorgan and
Pembroke. [However, it does not seem to have opened by 1858, and may
only have opened
in the 1860s.]
Corridor form -
Too large for Conolly's ideal1865: Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke County AsylumJonathan Marsden, Vicar of Llanllwch
(SA31
3HB) from 1869 to 1922 was chaplain to the "Joint Counties Asylum".
by 1929: Joint Counties Mental Hospital1881 Census: Joint Counties
Asylum,
Carmarthen, Carmarthen St Peter, Carmarthen, Wales. Medical Superintendent:
George Jonathan Hearder (age 41, married)
1948: became St David's Hospital, Jobs Well Road,
Carmarthen
(Caerfyrddin) SA31 3HB.
map.
1956-1958"Nurses
did far more than
they were paid to do... but.. the fear of going back is
strong"It had 940 beds
in 1971.
Was expected to close in 2003, but in Autumn 2002 reported to be
already closed, but standing empty.

Glamorgan County AsylumOpened at Angleton, Bridgend, 4.11.1864 (Renamed
Glanrhyd
by or in 1948) map1881 Census: Glamorgan
County Lunatic
Asylum, Near Bridgend, Newcastle Higher, Glamorgan, Wales. Henry Turnbull
Pringle (married, aged 40) was the Physician Superintendent. His wife doe
not appear to have been at home on census night and a nurse was caring for
his one year old son.
1887 An additional hospital, Parc Gwyllt opened nearby.
(renamed Parc by or in 1948) map (Angleton can be seen on the west
border
of the map)
Known as Angelton and Parc Gwyllt from 1887 to 1922
Known as Glamorgan County Mental Hospital from 1922 to 1948
1901 There is an entry for Glamorgan County Lunatic Asylum,
Higher Coyty in the 1901 Census
1905 civil parish of Bridgend formed out of portions of the
parishes of Newcastle and Coity.
1911Encyclopedia Britannica:
Bridgend (Welsh name Penybont-ar-Ogwr) is a market town straddling the
river Ogwr. 1901 population of urban district: 6,062. "Just outside the
town at Angelton and Parc Gwyllt are the Glamorgan county lunatic asylums."
1934Penyfai, a new hospital for admissions, opened on
the Glanrhyd site
1948:Glanrhyd and Parc and
Penyfai
became Morgannwg HospitalIn
1979, Morgannwg
Hospital consisted of Glanrhyd Hospital (416
beds) and Penyfai (161 beds), both at Bridgend, CF31 4LN, Mid Glamorgan,
and Parc Hospital (845 beds), Bridgend, CF35 6AP
Parc and Penyfai are closed. Glanrhyd Hospital is active (website)

From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833), reproduced on the
Genuki site

"The borough gaol and house of correction, a modern building situated on
St.
Thomas' Green, in the upper part of the town, is now, by a recent
act of parliament, devoted to a lunatic asylum, as well for Pembrokeshire
as for
Haverfordwest; and by the same act the common gaol and house of correction
for
Pembrokeshire, to the purposes of which the remains of the ancient castle
have
been assigned, are appropriated for the reception of prisoners both for
Pembrokeshire and Haverfordwest: the buildings are well calculated for the
classification of prisoners, and comprise eight wards; two work-rooms, one
for
males and one for females; eight day-rooms and eight airing-yards, in one
of which
is a tread-mill."

Bryn-y-Neuadd Hospital, Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd, LL33 0HH
A house, built about 1667, was demolished in 1858 and rebuilt in 1858.
St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton owned
the
house from about 1900 to the early nineteen sixties, and provided care for
middle class residents with mental health problems. The house was
demolished in August 1967 and the site used to construct the last
National Health Service mental handicap hospital to be built - (see 1971 change of
policy). It opened in 1971. People were moved into the
hospital
from Oakwood
Park, near Conway, and
Garth
Anghard near
Dolgellau. Bryn-y-Neuadd has villa style accommodation in wooded grounds.
There were 233 patients on 31.12.1971, and it carried on growing. But
resettlement from the hospital began almost as soon as it opened, as, in
the 1970s, adults with low dependency moved into the community. There were
350 beds on 31.12.1977. By the mid 1980s all children, except one, were
found successful placements in the community. But on 30.9.1989 there were
still 208 people living there long-term. 102 still lived there in January
2001. They came, originally, from a wide area: Ynys Mon, Gwynedd, Conwy,
Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham will all be involved in finding them
new homes by 2005/2006.
access to consultation document

See Historic Herefordshire Online:
"Infirmary and Lunatic Asylum, Old General Hospital, Nelson Street,
Parish Hereford NGR SO 5135 3937"
map link to present Nelson Street
. Infirmary foundation stone laid 1.3.1781, opened
August 1783. "William Parker of Hereford was architect and builder.
The building had three storeys with two ground floor wings, plus cellars
and attics. Built on land donated by Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, it cost
4,803, and could accommodate 55 patients."

Hereford Lunatic AsylumLicensed House at one time a
Hospital.
Founded
1797
under the auspices of the governors of Hereford Infirmary (founded
1776) with funds raised by voluntary contributions. Fund to set up asylum
was begun in 1777, but took until 1792
to collect enough money to begin work. A two-storey building, in
the grounds of the Infirmary, designed by John Nash and built by Mr
Knight. The resident superintendents
suite of rooms was at the front of the building. 20 patients could be
accommodated.
In 1802 licensed to a
physician and surgeon who were to run it jointly as a private house. The
building was still owned by the infirmary's governors. It was extended in
1838.
History to 18391839Select Committee
of the
House of Commons Hereford Lunatic Asylum
Proprietor (1844) J. Gililand (Surgeon).
1.1.1844 35
patients. 28 pauper and 7 private.
Weekly charge for
paupers: 10/- to 12/-
excluding clothes. [Highest recorded for a private pauper house at this
time. See Plympton House,
Devon]
Following the 1845 County Asylums Act, it was decided that the counties
of Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Radnorshire, plus the city
of Hereford, would form a union to build a joint asylum at
Abergavenny. This opened 1.12.1851 "and the last patient was
discharged from the Hereford asylum in January 1853, and it was
demolished soon after".

From 1851, Hereford county shared the joint
Monmouth,
Hereford, Brecon and Radnor County Asylum at Abergavenny
By 1864, Abergavenny was overcrowded, and Hereford city and Herefordshire
decided to build their own asylum.
The Builder 21.3.1868 Competition for
Hereford Lunatic Asylum (work began in 1868)
Hereford County and City Lunatic Asylum
Burghill, three miles north of Hereford [HR7 4QN]
opened in 1871see Historic Hereford OnlineArchitect:
R. Griffiths of Stafford.
Corridor form -
Small enough for Conolly's ideal1875:The fourth annual report of the committee of visitors
of the Hereford City and County Asylum at Burghill, near Hereford
Printed at the "Hereford Times" offices, 1876, 50 pages. Consists of a
list of committee members, the report of the committee of visitors (Archer
Clive, chairman), report of the Commissioners in Lunacy (Charles Palmer
Phillips, John D. Cleaton), report of the medical superintendent (T.
Algernon Chapman), the report of the chaplain (C.H. Bulmer), statistical
tables and financial statements
(Wellcome Library catalogue)1881 Census: Thomas A. Chapman,
Medical Superintendent (married), living with his mother and sisters. [I
have not found the asylum. They are living in a separate house]
1900 Extension by
Giles, Gough and TrollopeIn 1901 census:Hereford County
and City Asylum. Note ecclesiastical parish is
St Mary.
St Mary's Asylum1.1.1927:
509 patients of whom all but 33 were Rate Aided. 206
were men, 303 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 33.3%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 5.7%
31.12.1960"Burghill" 655 beds. Expected to reduce to 231
by 1975
Became St Mary's Hospital, Burghill, near Hereford, HR7 4QN
31.12.1977: 327 beds
Closed 1994Herefordshire MIND and Logaston Press published a book of the memories
of ex patients and staff in 1995, entitled, "Boots on! Out!
Reflections on life at St. Mary's Hospital." The interviews cover a period
of more than forty years.
See external link
Public Health in Herefordshire in the 19th
CenturyArchives believed to be in Hereford Record Office

January 1841 Shropshire Quarter Sessions formed a committee to
provide a pauper lunatic asylum. Baldwin Leighton, a member of the
committee, was a magistrate for both Shropshire and Montgomery. He was
influential in selecting the site at Shelton, on the road west from
Shrewsbury (Diary 5.1.1841 and 3.4.1841). In August and September 1841 he
visited asylums throughout the country. In July 1842,
Leighton told Shrewsbury Quarter Sessions that Montgomery was willing to
share costs. "Initially, the motion failed primarily because of language
difficulties between English speaking staff and Welsh speaking patients ~
'Welsh patients would have been treated as one class'.
(Rosie Barnes 1998 p.3)

Shropshire County Asylum opened in March 1845, becoming
Shropshire and Montgomery County Asylum in 1846. It was
the first county asylum provided for part of
Wales and continued as a jount English/Welsh asylum until 1911.
Its history from 1845 to 1911
is outlined above.

From 1851-1863, the addition of
Shrewsbury and Oswestry was made to
the county asylum's title. The county asylum, was a joint institution of
which the Counties of Shropshire and Montgomeryshire and the Borough of
Wenlock were owners and formed the management committee, while Shrewsbury
and Oswestry had the use of it on payment of a capitation rent. (Annotation
in Shropshire Archives)

Shropshire and Borough of Wenlock Lunatic Asylum (1911 to 1921)
In 1911 -
765 patients were resident - 332 male and 433 female
which included 28
private class, and 7 criminals.
(Rosie Barnes 1998 p.13)
Salop Mental Hospital (1921-1948)
Copthorne and Shelton Emergency Hospital (1940-1941)
Shelton Hospital (1948-)
26.2.1968 Fire kills 24 patients.
(external BBC link)Rosie Barnes 1998 (pages 47-48): The fire on
Beech Ward brought the highest hospital death toll in Britain for 14 years:
24 dead and 11 seriously injured. The evidence suggests that the fire began
with a lighted cigarette smouldering in a chair for some time before
igniting it. Patients were not killed by the flames, but by toxic fumes..
Beech Ward was a locked (closed) ward. Due to overcrowding, beds were 'top
to tail' along the window wall. All the patients sleeping in those beds
died of asphyxia and carbon monoxide poisoning. The fire was reported in
local and national newspapers, on radio and television, and as far away as
America. As a result, many of the fire procedures in hospitals throughout
the country were evaluated and updated.
September 1975 Retirement of the last
Medical Superintendent. Dr
Littlejohn
The
hospital is now the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (Shelton), Bicton
Heath,
Shelton.

Birmingham Lunatic
Asylum
opened in Lodge Road, Winson Green, in 1852.
A new workhouse was opened 9.3.1852 at the junction of Dudley Road and
Western Road, Winson Green. This appears to be just south of the asylum
site on Lodge Road. The Birmingham Workhouse Infirmary (1889-1920) became
Dudley Road Hospital, B18 7QH. See Peter Higginbotham's site. The following
passage from a
local history with pictures relates the
construction of the prison, asylum, workhouse and infirmary:

Duddeston Hall, near Birmingham, WarwickshireLicensed Houseopened 1835 for 18 paupers (closed 1865) "formerly the villa of
a banker, in the suburbs of Birmingham" .
Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 pp 58 + 176 + 190
Number of patients admitted 1835-1841 (seven years): 353. Outcome of
treatment: discharged cured 112; discharged improved 24; discharged not
cured 83; died 56; remaining under treatment 78.
This from an handbill advertisement issued by the proprietors which
also contrasts with
Hanwell: for last three
months of 1841, average patients in Hanwell 992 of whom four were
discharged cured and two improved. Duddeston Hall, same period, average
patients 88 of whom seven were discharged cured and two improved
Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 p.205 (Handbill:
Warwickshire County Record Office, QA.24/a/I/5)
1842: Licensed for 99 patients. Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 (pp 40-43) suggests
this was to avoid the requirement for a resident medical officerAbout 1842Rules and Regulations for the Male and Female
Keepers and Servants, at Duddeston Hall Lunatic Asylum (Warwickshire
County Records Office, Quarter Sessions lunacy records), reproduced
Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 pp 190-192)
1.1.1844 80 patients. 60 pauper and 20 private. Weekly charge for
paupers 10/- including clothes.
Proprietor (1844) Messrs Lewis.
A mansion and outhouses
asylum.
"established and
carried on" in connection with
Birmingham Workhouse
which sent
unmanageable patients and took them back when tolerably tranquil.
(1844
Report
p.42)
1867 Became St Anne's School, Devon Street - external
link to www.heartlandshistory.co.uk, where it is explained that there were
two Dudeston Halls. The asylum was not the
Vaux Hall one

Warwickshire County Asylum opened
30.6.1852,
had 334
patients in 1858.
Hospital database says "founded 1846", which I take
to be the year a committee was appointed to plan the asylum under the
1845 County Asylums
Act1881 Census: "Lunatic Asylum" Hatton,
Hatton, Warwick. Head: William Henry Parsey, Physician, aged 60, born
Chelsea, Middlesex. Married to Julia, aged 58, born Pinner, Middlesex.
Daughter, Julia Mary Parsey, unmarried, aged 27, born in Hatton.
It became Warwick County Mental Hospital in 1930 and Central
Hospital, Hatton, Warwick, CV35 7EE about 1948.
1994: 95 patients
See Rossbret information and photographs. The hospital is closed and
has
been redeveloped as expensive residential accommodation.
2003
use: "Luxury housing"
Archive catalogues:
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5

Winson Green Asylum, Birmingham,
See County Asylums website
Opened in 1850. The foundation
stone was laid by Robert Martineau, the Mayor of Birmingham, on 29.9.1847.
It was built on the same area as the prison and workhouse
The asylum was called
Birmingham City Asylum by 1902 and Birmingham City Mental Hospital
by 1929.
It became All Saint's Hospital, Lodge Road, Winson Green,
Birmingham, B18 58D. [The postcode is not now used, but "All Saints House,
280 Lodge Road,
Hockley, Birmingham" has the postcode B18 5SB
All Saints Hospital had 721 beds in
1979Closed 12.4.2000. A listed building. It is now used by the prison
authorities.
2003
use: "Prison"
Rossbret Asylums Website had
photographs (lost?)
The records are in Birmingham City Archives

Rubery Hill Lunatic AsylumSee County Asylums website which says "founded
1876"
Opened 4.1.1882 as the second
Birmingham Asylum.
Cock Hill Lane, Rednal, nr. Rubery Hill, Birmingham, Warwickshire
Architects: William Martin & John Henry Chamberlain.
Layout:
Pavilion Plan1896 "At Rubery Hill there is but little for Dr. Suffern to make
note of, since his patients are almost entirely chronic. He
can report, however, two recoveries after seven and twelve years'
illness". (offline)
It is shown on a 1904 map as City of Birmingham
Lunatic Asylum (Rubery Hill)Maps were on the Rossbret Asylums Website - but now seem to be
lost)
It became Rubery Hill Hospital, Bristol Road South, Birmingham, B45 9BB
See Joan
Hughes'
1965 and 1967It had 638 beds in
1979John Connolly Hospital, with 105 beds, was the same address.
Closed 1993The records are in Birmingham City Archives

John Connolly HospitalDesigned and built as a specialist mental hospital in 1965,
Built as a modern 90 bedded unit, it also had out-patient and day
patients departments.
Nagy Riad Bishay was Senior Registrar at the John Connolly Hospital
from 1976 to September 1979
It was closed and demolished in 1996.

Location: Tessalls Lane, Northfield, near Longbridge, Birmingham,
Warwickshire.
Architect: William Martin & Martin
Layout: Compact Arrow
City of Birmingham Lunatic Asylum (Hollymoor) is shown on a 1904
map (See Rossbret Asylums Website). It is just to the
east of Rubery Hill. It may have opened in 1905, but there are
administrative records from 1899.

Hollymoor served as an annex to Rubery
Hill and was linked to Rubery Hill in research ("Northfield experiments")
and "specialised treatment".

Northfields Military Hospital?

the so called "Northfield Experiments" took place at the Hollymoor
Hospital, Northfield, with as important proponents, J. Rickman, W.R. Bion
(Northfield I) and S. Foulkes,
Tom Main and H. Bridger (Northfield II) from
1942 to 1948.
By 1949 it was a distinct hospital from Rubery
Hill. (Hospital database)
Became:
Hollymoor Hospital, Tessal Lane, Northfield, Birmingham, B31 5EX.
In 1959 it had 511 beds. The patient numbers fell slowly to 490 by
1984, and then rapidly to 139 by 1994.
31.3.1994: 185 patients
Closed July 1994 (Other source says 1995)
2003
use: "Theatre, community centre"
The records are in Birmingham City Archives
There is a book: The History of Hollymoor Hospital
The Rubery Hill and Hollymoor Hospital site has been redeveloped as a
Business Park.

Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital, Birmingham. Opened about
1917. Closed about 1919.

St Margaret's and Daisy Bank Avenue6.7.1951
Mary Betteridge admitted. See
Hansard28.2.1955 Kathleen Bradley - personal case
Hansard"Kathleen Bradley who had been detained for 20 years. At the age of 19,
recovering from rheumatic fever, her local authority had been unable to
find anyone to look after her. Though she had been in the top class at her
school and had no record of being a delinquent she had been certified as a
'mental defective'. A campaign to release her included questions in
Parliament and appeals to the Board of Control. She was released in 1955."
1971: 1,404 beds

Barnsley HallStourbridge Road Bromsgrove B61 0EU
Foundation year: 1903Compact Arrow formBy 1929Worcestershire Mental Hospital"In 1929 the hospital had a nominal capacity of 638, and employed 50
male and 54 female attendants to oversee a daily average of 703 patients.
The average weekly cost per patients was 21s, recovered from the 22s 7d
charged per week, paid quarterly in advance. Private patients were charged
35s per week, also paid quartery in advance. By the time the hospital
closed in 1996 the number of beds had shrunk to 45."
(Hospital database)1948 reference Barnsley Hall Mental Hospital1949Barnsley Hall Hospital for Nervous and Mental
Diseases1966Barnsley Hall Hospital, BromsgroveClosed 1996

1915 Besford Court for sale. It was purchased by
Archbishop Isley of
Birmingham [Edward Ilsley 11.5.1838-13.6.1926] to be adapted as a Roman
Catholic institution for mentally
defective boys. Conversions of buildings made. "Ilsley's most notable
achievement was the establishment in 1902 of the
Birmingham Diocesan Rescue Society, which under its first
administrator, the energetic and innovative
George Vincent Hudson, burgeoned into a social care agency of great
complexity and size and embraced, among other institutions, a village of
residential care at Coleshill and a pioneering home and school for boys
with learning difficulties at Besford Court, Pershore." (DNB)
See Welcome to Besford Court School
Monsignor "Thomas Aldhelm Newsome, founder in 1915 of the Besford Court
Mental Welfare Hospital for Children, died just before Christmas, 1942"
(The Tablet)
1.4.1916The Tablet The Diocesan Rescue Society' annual
income was £4,846 6s. in 1915. The expenditure being £4,851
19s. 2d. During the year 416 fresh applications were dealt with. Of these,
137 were distributed in one or other of the homes at Coleshill or Nazareth
House, Rednal, or other Poor Law Schools, St. Vincent's Home for Working
Boys, &c. Of the remainder, 110 were dealt with at the Children's Court, 29
emigrated to Canada, 47 were referred to other homes or societies, and 93
were withdrawn as being outside the scope of the society. A valuable
property has been acquired at Besford, Worcestershire, to serve as a home
for Mentally Deficient Children. The new school at St. Edward's, Coleshill,
was completed last October, at a cost of £2,000, the whole of which
has been received.
1917 opened under he supervision of Monsignor Newsome. He
was
was
helped by the Sisters of Charity of St Paul until 1924. "Throughout his
period of office, Thomas Newsome not only abhorred physical violence - "it
corrodes the soul of both the giver and the receiver" - but saw it as a
positive deterrent to progress. An Important Notice to all members of
Staff" was printed. 'The administrator warns all members of staff that
corporal punishment of any kind given with or without an instrument is most
rigidly forbidden by the Managers'.
1918
Special certification for 76 boys and 46 girls.
The institution was both Besford Court Special School approved
by the Board of Education (boys under 16 ranging from defective to merely
backward) and
Besford Court Mental Deficiency Institution approved by the Board
of Control (idiots and imbeciles up to the age of 40 years and more).
1920 School recertified with no limits set.
1923 Board of Education report that boys in special
schools
needed entirely male supervision and should be taught on specialised
industrial lines for some type of work when they left at 16.
August 1923 Rev Patrick F. M. McSwiney went to St. Patrick's
Stafford, from Newcastle-under-Lyme.
15.12.1924St Joseph's Special School,
Sambourne, Astwood
Bank, near Redditch (or near Studley), Worcestershire opened as a junior
branch of Besford. "For twenty five years. Sambourne was to provide the
base upon which Besford built. until Croome Court was Bought, and the boys
transferred there in 1949."
In
1925 a combined total for Besford and St Joseph's was set at
179.
4.6.1927 Maria Montessori visited, accompanied by her niece.
1927The Story of Besford Court by the
Right Rev. Monsignor Newsome
(Administrator), Birmingham: The Herald Press. (From 907 - Only last two
pages deal with the present day):
"Boys at Besford Court are high-grade defectives. In ordinary schools
they would learn nothing. They would grow up with an anti-social grudge, a
feeling of hopeless inferiority successfully preventing them using such
slender natural gifts they had to any good purpose. Soon after school age,
unless their parents can afford to maintain them, they would have to be
taken over by some State institution for life. Mental defect renders a boy
quite incapable of profiting by any ordinary system of education. Such a
boy must be educated by different methods. Training must take the form of
manual work, learning by doing things. Efforts must be concentrated on
training abilities, moulding and strengthening character. The physical
wreck must be set up in strength and build up into a healthy child in an
atmosphere of intense kindness and of perfect sympathy.
"All these boys have most attractive personalities. Indeed, if they
thought with their faces, many of them would be highly intelligent. No
visitor can fail to be struck by their charming candour and friendly ways.
Watch them at work and play - you will see how happy they are and what a
joy it is to them to be able to do things like other people. They do not
quarrel with each other like children... Both they and we are here for one
object - that each of them will be able to leave the secure haven of
Besford Court and set sail bravely and safely in the great ocean of Life.
If by chance you pass them, dip your flags to them."
Thomas Newsome celebrated the silver (25th) Jubilee of his
ordination in November 1930
1933 School recertified with no limits set.
1.6.1935 CLERICAL APPOINTMENTS.-The Rev. Patrick F. M. McSwiney,
rector at St. Patrick's, Stafford, has been appointed assistant
administrator at Besford Court, Worcester. The rectorship at St. Patrick's
is to be filled by the Rev. Murtagh Dempsey, from St. Chad's Cathedral,
Birmingham. (The Tablet)
7.6.1935 Father Patrick F.M. McSwiney arrived at Besford as
Resident Manager
and Thomas Newsome's successor.
14.6.1935 Thomas Newsome left Besford. He lived at Beaconsfield
for seven years until his death in 1942. He was first buried at Olton -
and then under the trees at Besford, facing the front door of the house.
26.1.1937
Peter Whitehead (aged 8) moved from the Nazareth House
(Catholic orphanage) in Southampton to St Joseph's [Sambourne].
25.8.1941 Peter Whitehead (aged 13) moved from St Joseph's to
Besford Court. "After the nuns at Sambourne, he was bewildered by this
man's world of harsh commands and rough voices... punishments at Besford
Court weer much harsher. A leather strap was in constant use, inficted on
hands or backsides".
(Roxan 1958 p, 36).
Just befor Christmas 1942: death of
Monsignor Thomas
Newsome1943 "Just before his fifteenth birthday he experienced a
prolonged bout of depression"
(Roxan 1958 p, 41).
1944 Peter Whitehead: "At the end of term in which he
attained the age of 16
years,
viz June
30th, 1944, he was discharged from the Special School and admitted on July
1st, 1944 to the Besford Court Certified Institution as "in a place of
safety" on the authority of the Medical Officer of Health, Southampton.
From that date he became the responsibility of the Southampton Mental
Deficiency Committee.
27.1.1944 Peter Whitehead examined by two GPs
(Roxan 1958 p, 63).
"His
I.Q. was fixed at about 78"
(Roxan 1958 p, 68).
6.12.1944
Peter Whitehead certified under Section 6 of the
1913 Act (Board of Control to Dennis Whitehead
3.2.1955).
(Roxan 1958 p,225).
"Whitehead was certified as a feeble-minded person under the M.D. Acts
1913-38 on
December 6th, 1944. He was transferred from Besford Court
Certified Institution on August 7, 1946". (Rev. W.A. Warner, Resident
Manager 1955, quoted
(Roxan 1958 p.228)
1945 W.A. Warner Resident Manager
14.1.1946 Peter Whitehead working in
Canning Town6.8.1946 Peter Whitehead (aged 18) moved from
Besford Court to
RamptonAbout 1946 Nine year old Jimmy McEvoy went to Besford Court
About 1948 12 year old Davey Hooper flogged for running away
About 1948 Danny Lavelle went to Besford Court
1955 Now
solely an ESN. school dealing with some eighty education authorities,
Besford Court decided to close the school throughout August, providing all
boys with a holiday.
(Roxan 1958 p.40)
About 1955 Ten year old John Connolly went to Besford Court. "He
says if anyone tried to run away from the school they would be punished -
they would have to kneel on marbles or their head would be held under
water."
(Northern Echo)1956
Father Warner still Resident Manager at Besford Court: "many of us greatly
liked
Peter [Whitehead]. During all the years he was in Rampton he
never forgot to send me a Christmas card and he wrote to several members of
staff".
(Roxan 1958 p.88)
1969 Major fire at Besford Court.
8.8.1969
Catholic Herald "Besford Court, a Catholic residential school
for educationally sub-normal children in the Birmingham diocese. A fire has
put Besford Court out of action"
1969 John Connolly left Besford Court (age 17?)
1986
BBC Doomsday "Besford Court is a special school run by the Roman
Catholic Church for boys with a variety of learning problems. There are 51
staff including the gardener, chef and launderette attendants. The staff
mainly live in their own houses off the grounds, but the Headmaster, Deputy
Head and caring staff live on site. The children start the school at the
age of 8 and leave at 16 unless they want to stay on until 18. The school
has many amenities such as a playing field, swimming pool, sports hall and
self care flats. The children like going on trips and doing the gardening.
They have a standard curriculum with the exception of modern languages. The
children seem to prefer living in the country to living in the towns from
which most came.
(L.Cooper, K.Ledbury, J.Jackson, A.Finch)
2001 Coverted into eight houses
Besford.org

Northampton General Lunatic AsylumA HospitalOpened 1.8.1838
Robert Vernon Smith, a Metropolitan Commissioner in Lunacy, was
MP for Northamton Borough.
The
Lancet
for 14.9.1844 states Dr [T.O.]
Prichard "has been six years at the head of the asylum". His title by 1841
was "physician superintendent"
1840The statutes and rules of the Northampton General
Lunatic Asylum 20 pages.
From 1842: Home of
John Clare, until his death.
1.1.1844 231 patients.
181 pauper and 50 private.

26.6.1844 A new patient, Mrs Lindsay, wife of John Lindsay of
Coates, was found dead. A post-mortem by Mr Marshall, the house surgeon,
revealed a ruptured ileum. Surprise was expressed that a serious state of
inflammation, leading to rupture, could have existed without Mrs Lindsay
noticing, but
The
Lancet commented "A lunatic will sometimes be
attacked with the most severe malady without its existence being manifested
by any of the ordinary symptoms. The action of the brain is too much
disturbed for it to appreciate morbid phenomena." There were charges that
Dr Prichard had been negligent in not attending Mrs Lindsay. He was ill,
but the illness was not severe; and there were allegations (which The
Lancet dismissed) that his illness was due to intoxication. The committee
of Governors criticised Dr Prichard. "It appears, from what was stated at
the meeting, that Dr Prichard is rather a self-willed man, and that he has,
in more instances than one, incurred the displeasure of the committee". On
the motion of Sir George Robinson, the committee adopted a resolution
recommending the appointment of "some medical visitor or visitors , who
shall have authority independent of the superintendent of the asylum, to
inquire into the practice of the said superintendent, and the general
treatment of patients, and report from time to time thereupon to the
committee of management".

"In the 1860s the Hospital had problems with the mix between private and
pauper
patients, and the number of the latter declined, with the last ones leaving
for a new
county asylum in 1876. This change led to the title of the Northampton
General
Lunatic Asylum for the Middle and Upper classes being adopted. The asylum
was
renamed St Andrew's Hospital in 1887"

The report of Saint Andrew's Hospital for Mental Diseases, at
Northampton, for the middle and upper classes from 1.1.1901 to
31.12.1901. Medical superintendent: Joseph Bayley. Chaplain: John
Cunningham. Chairman of Committee of Management: C. Smyth. Visiting Lunacy
Commissioners: G. Harold
Urmson,
E. Marriott Cooke and
F. Needham.
Includes photographs of Bryn-y-Neuadd,
the hospital's seaside house at Llanfairfechan, Wales
1.1.1903 to 31.12.1903 report. Visiting commissioners the
same except F. A.
Inderwick instead of Cooke.

"After the Second World War St Andrew's sought for exemption from the
National
Health Service, and was one of four Registered Hospitals allowed to
function
outside the NHS, maintaining the charitable status it still enjoys
today."

"In 1794 a Lunatic Asylum was added to the Infirmary, 14 patients being
received at first and more later on. Each patient made a small money
payment. This department continued in existence until 1837, when the County
Asylum was built and the patients removed there, a sum of £1,558
being paid over with them." (1907 p.102)

The new County Asylum opened
10.5.1837,
its
costs partly defrayed by the sale of "Old Institutions", buildings etc.
From 1837 to 1909 at: Victoria Road (now University Road) Leicester.
Link to map showing position in what is
now
the University
First accommodation for 104: 52 of each sex
1.1.1844 131 patients. 104
pauper and 27 private.
October 1869 J C Compston, M.D. appointed Assistant Medical
Officer to Leicestershire and Rutlandshire Lunatic Asylum, Leicester
1881 Census: The
Superintendent
(William H. Higgins) had his own house (now College House, Leicester
University) with a cook and a groom
[External link to College House History]

1907: "The Leicestershire and Rutland asylum, or, as it is commonly called,
the 'County Asylum', is situated on the Victoria Road, adjacent to the
Victoria Park. It was erected in 1837. It is, however, far too small to
meet the requirements of the district, and a new Asylum, standing on an
estate of 184 acres, and designed to receive 912 patients, is now in course
of erection at Narborough.

In its early days, the borough mental cases were also treated there, but
their great increase led to the opening, in 1867, of an Asylum for their
special benefit. This is known as The Leicester Borough Asylum, and
is situated near the village of Humberstone. It can accommodate 868
patients. Though lunacy in Leicester is considerably below the average, yet
621 of the patients belong to the parish of Leicester, as against 152 in
1869, so much has the town grown." (p.103)

Leicestershire County Mental HospitalReplaced the Victoria Road (University Road) asylum. It was
"built astride the parish boundaries of Narborough and Enderby, two
villages about eight miles from the centre of the city of Leicester.
(Andrew Crowther)
"In 1908, the patients were moved to a new asylum in Narborough"
"Pick, Everard, Keay and Gimson, civil engineers, Leicester -
Many notable local undertakings and buildings have been engineered and
designed by the firm during its long history. The Leicestershire and
Rutland Lunatic Asylum at Narborough (Carlton Hayes Hospital), The
Leicester Technical and Art Schools (Leicester Polytechnic), and the former
County Council offices (Grey Friars) are worthy of mention"
"In 1914 the name of the new asylum at Narborough was modernised
to
become the Leicestershire and Rutland Mental Hospital"
In 1939 the name "was changed again to Carlton Hayes
Hospital. The
hospital continued to be administered by the two County Councils and the
Charity until it became part of the National Health Service in
1948."
Carlton Hayes Hospital, Forest Road,
Narborough, Leicester, LE9 5ES. Also known as "CHH".
1971: Average of 786 available beds. 701 patients.
Woodlands Day
Hospital, for people with mainly neurotic disorders, was attached.
1994: 249 patients in Carlton Hayes
Carlton Hayes "due to close down" on 1.3.1996 "as a result of
the policy of
caring for mental patients in the community. Patients will begin to leave
in Autumn 1995 and the site is gradually being taken over by the Alliance
and Leicester Building Society.
Carlton Hayes Hospital closed in 1996.
Now the Alliance & Leicester plc. Registered Office: Carlton Park,
Narborough Leicester LE19 0AL. (information from Lynn Barnes, following
earlier information from Andrew Crowther)

"Special Schools The Leicester Education Authority was the first in
the country, in 1892, to provide special instruction for backward
and weak-minded children. Under this provision, the education of the eye
and hand is made an instrument to lead up to a small amount of book-
learning, with the result that the children are made brighter, happier, and
more useful. The special school for mentally defective children occupies a
part of the buildings of the elementary school in Willow Street. At this
school, the most defective cases (about 40 in number) are taken in hand. In
addition special, or 'Standard O', classes are held at two of the
elementary schools fro cases of a less severe type than those in Willow
Street. After a period of treatment in these classes, the children
sometimes succeed in overcoming their backwardness, and are able to take
their place in the normal school. Children who are deaf mutes are educated
at a special school in Short Street, where there are about 30 scholars on
the registers. The method of instruction is the 'pure oral'."
(1907 pp 106-107)

"That the flagrant abuses
lately brought to light before
Parliament such as foul offensive unventilated apartments,
personal
uncleanliness and neglect, brutal means of restraint, harsh and unfeeling
demeanour in the attendants and above all improper association in
convalescence be effectively prevented without a full and free inspection
by Governors and strangers officially introduced. Lincoln Lunatic Asylum is
a public institution and
not a private establishment.

Every instrument of restraint without exception used in this Asylum be
ticketed and hung up in a place distinctly appropriated for each in some
easily accessible place when not in use." (quoted by
Judy McLoughlin)

Boston Union (Lincolnshire) minutes. Many people from
this Union
were sent to Haydock Lodge:
28.9.1844. It was unanimously agreed that subject to the approval
of the Poor Law Commissioners the whole of the paupers now in Lincoln
Asylum chargeable to parishes in this Union be removed therefrom to the
establishment kept by
Mr Mott at Haydock Lodge near Manchester and the
clerk was ordered to communicate this resolution to the Poor Law
Commissioners and also to Mr Mott. [Page 348]
9.11.1844. Resolved and ordered that Thursday next be fixed for
removal of the several lunatic paupers mentioned in the following list
from Lincoln asylum to the Haydock Lodge establishment. That the clerk do
write to the Secretary at the Lincoln asylum and to Mr Mott informing them
thereof and do arrange with Mr Coupland to go over to Lincoln and thence
to Haydock Lodge to superintend the removal and do prepare the necessary
forms and papers for re-admission of the patients. [Page 356 and 357]
Name - Age - Parish
Desforges Edward Sibsey
Parsons Henry 52 Boston
Burkitt Robert 34 Boston
[Later stated that
Burkitt remained at Lincoln]
Bradshaw James 64 Boston
Dulston Thomas 54 Boston
Parker Samuel 38 Boston
Rogerson William Skirbeck
Turner Mary 24 Kirton
Bettison Mary Ann Leverton
Warsap Ann 44 Boston.
[See also
names of paupers from minutes:]
Stamford Union, South Lincolnshire, minutes:
2.7.1845 Case of Jacob Freer. Jacob Freer, an inmate of the
workhouse
belonging to Wansford was also reported to be insane. He was examined by
the Board and made some very incoherent statements.
Both the above cases were fully discussed, and as notice had been given
that no more patients could be received at
Northampton, it was ordered
that Jane Stanton and Jacob Freer be sent to
Mr Mott's asylum at Haydock
Lodge near Warrington under the care of Mr Simpson, the medical
officer,
and Mrs Clarke, one of the nurses at the workhouse. [page 82]

16.7.1845 Mr Charles Simpson, medical officer,
reported that he had accompanied Jacob Freer to
Haydock Lodge and had
carefully inspected the establishment, but from defective ventilation etc
he could not recommend any other patients to be sent there at present.

He produced an account of his expences as under:
For Jacob Freer £2
His own expenses £4..3/-
Sub-total: £6..3/-
Loss of time; 2 days at 2 guineas: £4..4/-
Total: £10..7/-
A check was drawn for the £10..7/- and ordered to be charged as
under:
To the parish of Wansford £6..3/-
To Establishment £4..4/-
[Page 88]

Lincolnshire County Asylum, Bracebridge Heath, was opened
9.8.1852. The
land for it was purchased in
1846. It had
300 patients in 1858 and was enlarged in 1859, 1866, 1881, 1902, 1917 and
1928. It was built in the "Italian style".
Architect: Hamilton
and Thomas Percy -
Close to Conolly's ideal1881 Census: Physician: Edward
Palmer,
aged 64
1889 Kelly's Directory: The County Lunatic Asylum is situated at
Bracebridge, near Lincoln, on an eminence, on the high road to Sleaford; it
is a plain building, erected in 1852, in the Italian style, and had room
for 250 patients, but has since that date been considerably enlarged, and
will no hold upwards of 680 patients: The ground belonging to and occupied
by the asylum consists of 120 acres, cultivated chiefly by the spade
husbandry of the inmates. The sewage is disposed of by irrigation over ten
acres of land about a mile from the asylum, quite inoffensively and
profitably. The recreation grounds, which are tastefully laid out, with
flower beds, shrubs and trees, occupy about six acres. A chapel was erected
in 1869 to seat 450: there is also a cemetery of one acre on the
estate,
with a mortuary chapel. The Viscount Oxenbridge, chairman to the committee
of visitors; Robert Toynbee, Lincoln, clerk to the visitors; Alexander H.
Melville, treasurer; John Wilford Marsh, medical superintendent; George
Parsons Torrey BA, LKQCP Ireland, assistant medical officer; Rev Charles
Christopher Ellison MA chaplain; George Kirkup, steward and clerk to the
asylum; Miss E. Sollit, housekeeper; Robert Runacres, head male attendant;
Mrs Sophia Peek, head nurse.
In 1926, "Bracebridge Mental
Hospital" on the "high road to Sleaford" had an "estate of 160 acres,
cultivated chiefly by spade husbandry of the inmates". (Kellys Directory
of Lincolnshire, 1926, page 107) (See also extracts from (1857?) White
Directory on the
Rossbret Asylums WebsitBecame St John's Hospital, London Road, Bracebridge Heath in
1961.
31.12.1977: 944 beds
Simon Cornwall: Closed
in 1990, appears redeveloped by housing.
Grid reference for Lincoln County Lunatic Asylum on
1889/1890 Ordnace Survey map is 498179,367657. The same grid
reference on a modern map shows no sign of St John's
Hospital. (same area on
multimap)

"If the Sneinton Asylum, Nottingham was the institution at the top of
Dakeyne Street, off Carlton Road, then its
buildings survived until the
1960s, though not for mental health purposes. In the late 1950s and 1960s
the
building was used by the Oliver Hind Boys Brigade Company. I remember being
told that in the basement the building still had its padded cells! I think
the site was demolished in the mid-1960s after a new Oliver Hind Club had
been constructed by the Boys Brigade." (Tim Watkinson 2.1.2004)

Dave Ogden:: "it is
still possible to see part of the original wall near Sneinton Market."

Patients were divided into three classes:- First, persons of a superior
class and opulent means who should contribute in accordance with their
pecuniary ability, but not less than £10 per week; second, persons
in limited
circumstances who desire no aid from any parochial fund, who shall be
charged for maintenance and medical attendance according to their means,
but
not less than 18/- per week; and thirdly, persons being paupers sent to
the
Asylum by the Justices of the Peace pursuant to Acts of Parliament, for
whom
their parish pays 18/- per week. The criminally insane were not accepted,
nor were those deemed incurable.

1810 Richard Ingleman, architect, Southwell,
Nottinghamshire
provided A specification... of the work to be executed...
in constructing a General Lunatic Asylum, near Nottingham... according to
the intentions of the Committee of the Justices of the Peace, for the
county of Nottingham, and the committee of the voluntary subscribers.
On page one an Advertisement to builders: the plans and specifications,
will, on the 3rd day of April, be lodged with Mr Thompson, at the General
Hospital, for inspection.

31.5.1810 Foundation stone laid

In
1810 Sneinton was a
village about a mile outside of Nottingham town and high on a ridge
overlooking the valley of the River Trent.
A
County/Subscription Hospital

1811The articles of union... between the Justices of
the Peace,
for the County of Nottingham [and for].. the County of the Town of
Nottingham; and the subscribers to a voluntary institution... together with
the by-laws, rules, orders, and regulations... published Newark,
printed by S. and J. Ridge. Seventeen page introductory address to the
public [by Doctor John Storer] Articles of Union, pp 3-23; By-laws, pp 25-
75; Instructions for those who make application for the admission of
patients, pp 77-9; List of the officers [six pages]; Benefactors.[ten
pages]

Original asylum opened for about 60 patients, at a cost of
£19,819 and called The General Lunatic Asylum for the Town and
County of Nottingham.

In
Trade Directories, Thomas Morris was shown as House Director and
Secretary and his wife as Matron from about 1812 to 1827.
[See below
6.10.1831]
Their life is
being researched by
Jeremy Waters. The Morris's previous home was Great Baddow,
Essex. We would
like to know what Thomas and Ann Morris did in Essex and
Hammersmith that
qualified them for this post]

The establishment was reckoned to have cost to October 1811 £19,820
to erect. This exceeded original
estimates, and included £964 for extra earth and rock digging and
cutting in the sub-basement, the yards, the courts and the foundations, and
£1,755 for the purchase of the land, planting trees and setting down
hurdles. (Sarah Rutherford)

1812 is usually given as the opening date.
There
may have been a formal opening on
Wednesday 12.2.1812.

Dave Ogden quotes the following extract from a
letter written by Rev. Orton, Vicar of Keyworth, 30.9.1812:-

"Gentlemen, it is a painful task for me to enumerate the evil
qualities of anyone but the conduct of Mr George Simpson has been so very
inconsistent when at liberty that it is a fortunate circumstance that there
are such places of safety for such outrageous characters similiar to your
asylum. He has been under the care of Dr Arnold of Leicester for nearly 18 years though
his friends every two years give him a trial of his liberty. At those times
whenever an opportunity occurs he could not refrain from getting inebriated
and in these fits he has attempted the lives of both his sisters and
demolished their windows, selling his clothes from off his back and
returning to his home forlorn and naked. That if he can be returned under
your care it is certainly a charity to this man and a relief to the
apprehensions and anxiety of his friends."

1.1.1844 177 patients. 125
pauper and 52 private.
Superintendent: T. Powell, surgeon
Private patients were moved to
The Coppice Hospital, Nottingham in
1855
and the asylum became the County and Borough of Nottingham Lunatic
Asylum [A.D.M. Douglas says The Coppice was opened in
1855 and all private patients moved there in 1873]
1873: All private patients removed
[to the Coppice] from
Sneinton (A.D.M. Douglas)1880:
The
asylum only served the county, and city patients were moved to the new
asylum at Mapperley
Top.
July 1869: H C Gill, MRCS.E and LSA, from Bethlem, became
Assistant
Medical Officer, but moved in October to the same post at the North Riding
Asylum. He was replaced by Joseph Hume Smith, M.B.
About 1871 to 1880:Dr Alexander McCook Weir was Assistant Medical Officer (If any one has
further information about,
please mail
me)
about June 1876 Edith Oldknow married Alexander McCook Weir in
Notingham.
8.2.1880 Report of the acquital of Alexander McCook Weir on a
charge of wounding his wife Edith Weir with intent to do grievous
bodily harm.
1881 census:
Superintendent: William Phillimore (Widower) born
1821. The census gives the full names of patients in this asylum, not just
initials as is usual with asylums.
Alfred Aplin (Physician, unmarried, aged 26,
born Exeter) Assistant Medical Officer. Marion Oldknow (aged 43 unmarried)
was housekeeper. Note
Henry Oldknow above
1881 Edith Weir
living with her parents1884 William Phillimore shown as superintendent on annual report
1885 Alfred Aplin shown as superintendent on annual report
1895:
Alfred Aplin, Physician and Superintendent
Rev. W. H. C. Malton, Chaplain
F. Gell, Clerk
See Rossbret"In the early 1900s the asylum was superseded by the new asylum at
Saxondale, and was closed and demolished. The grounds were reused as King
Edward Park." (Sarah Rutherford)

Coppice HospitalThis hospital is not listed in the 1844 Report, which suggests that the
Hospital Database
statement that it was founded in 1789 refers to
The General
Lunatic Asylum for the Town and County of Nottingham, which
took pauper and private patients until the 1850s.
Lunatic Hospital, Coppice New Road, Nottingham St Mary, Nottingham,
England. [The Coppice was a Nottingham source for timber. Coppice Road
was
constructed through it in 1837. Later, it was renamed Ransom Road.
Ransom Road, Mapperley, Nottingham, NG3 5HL
1855 The Coppice Hospital opened according to A.D.M. Douglas(Also see))
Simon Cornwall
says: Built: 1857-1859Architect: Thomas
Chambers Hine1873: All private patients removed [to the Coppice] from
Sneinton1881 census:
Medical Superintendent: William B. Tate, MD. married, aged 54. The census
gives the full names of patients in this asylum, not just
initials as is usual with asylums.
1895:See RossbretA voluntary hospital that became part of the National Health Service
1979:
116 beds (58 "amenity" (private) beds)
Closed in 1986, converted to flats (Simon Cornwall)

Nottingham City Asylum was opened (unfinished) on 3.8.1880.
[Porchester Road,
Nottingham, NG3 6AA. (map to postcode).]
Simon Cornwall: Built:
1875-1880
Architect: George Thomas
Hine.
Corridor form"Occupying 125 acres. It had its own farm, bakery and butcher, along
with a church and recreation hall. It was designed by local architect
George Thomas Hine, son of TC Hine, the designer of the
Coppice Hospital.
Previously,
both Town and County patients were accommodated at
Sneinton"
(1881 Census data on Sue Kaye's site)Male annexe and large hall/chapel added in 1887 - now converted
to flats. (Peter
Cracknell)"In 1889 a new wing was added ,but only 12 months later was
found to be
already overcrowded ,with only 44 patients. In 1896, drawings were produced
for further extensions to the wings and a further two storeys were added to
the Male Epileptic Dormitory. The female wing was to have electricity
installed. In order to persuade the Asylum Committee to consider electric
lighting throughout the hospital, Hine encouraged them to visit the
Dorsetshire County Asylum in 1900, part of which he had
designed. Here, they were surprised that none of the doors were locked,
noting that this would hardly be safe at Mapperley. In fact, the locked
door practice remained until the arrival of Dr Duncan Macmillan, the
medical supervisor from 1942-1966. He was famed for his policy of unlocking
the wards to create an open hospital."
John Foster's site
It became
Nottingham City Mental
Hospital about 19271.1.1927: 898 patients of whom all but 74 were Rate
Aided.
412 were men, 486 women. In 1926 the
proportion of recoveries to admissions was 48.9%. The proportion of deaths
to the asylum population was 8.1%
Later Mapperley HospitalTwo printed schedules issued by the
Board of Control are
attached to the inside front cover of a medical register for Mapperley
Hospital dating 1931-1947:

Schedule of Forms of InsanityDuncan Macmillan,
medical
supervisor from 1942 to
1966, unlocked the doors, establishing an open-door policy. Under
the
National Health Service, he pushed
for equal resources with hospitals for physical illnesses and pioneered
community care. See
Timeline.
1948 1,310 in-patients
1956 1,060 in-patients
6.3.1957 Out of a total of 1,054 in-patients, only one was
certified. (Edith Summerskill, Hansard, 8.7.1957)
1962 (Hospital Plan)
879 beds in 1960 (with annexes)
By 1975 expected have 750 beds
1960-1968 Used, with Severalls and
Netherne in a study of
institutionalism and schizophrenia - Published 19701971 Mapperley and St Francis: 775 beds, 655 patients on
31.12.1971. 85% bed occupancy. No dormitories with over 30 beds. Special
in-patient units/wards for children (20 beds) - adolescent (16 beds) -
alcoholic/drug addiction (regional) (33 beds) - psychogeriatric assessment
(20)
The hospital closed for mental illness in December
1994. The site has now been developed.
Original block in use by NHS as Duncan Macmillan House
(Peter
Cracknell)
External link -
(archives)Archives are mainly in
Nottinghamshire Archives

Balderton Hospital, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.
Balderton Hall (built 1840) was bought by Nottinghamshire County
Council for conversion to a hospital in (or soon after) 1930. Building
started in 1936 but was suspended, and the Hall used to house officers
based at nearby Balderton airfield during the second world war.

"Part of the Balderton mental colony - begun by Nottinghamshire
County Council and abandoned in 1942 - will be completed 'in the near
future,' said Sir Basil Gibson, chairman of Sheffield Regional Hospital, on
Monday.
The whole scheme is for 986 beds. The colony was built at a cost of
£250,000. It is a self contained community, with its own farm, which
at present supplies
Saxondale Hospital with food and milk."
(Newark Advertiser14.1.1953)

The post-
war economic situation and difficulties connected with transfer to
Sheffield Regional Health Board meant the first (male) patients were not
admitted until October 1957. The hospital was officially opened by Enoch
Powell, the Minister of Health, in
April 1961.
380 beds on 31.12.1977
"One was always aware that the admin' building had at one time been a
very special grand house, with intricate ornate covings and lovely thick
heavy doors.A stark contrast to the bare 'H' block design of the older ward
buildings which some dared to say was the patients' 'home'". (Polly
Roughan, who trained there as a nurse 1979-1983. Polly provides the
following notes on the plan shown on the online map.)

At the top end of the hospital grounds on the left hand side - one building
is shown. This is the area where the 'H' block type buildings were. There
were three along this side Camdale, Bedale and Ainsdale. On the right hand
side there was at least one more 'Moorfield'. My memory tells me there may
have been another one. There was then the Nursing School and staff houses.
In the center there were Laundry buildings, the Kitchens / Staff canteen /
Club and to the left of these were the day care buildings.There was also a
small farm.

Not all the wards are on this plan. There were three newer bungalow type
buildings plus a hospital block with another ward attatched. These were the
childrens/'mental handicap' wards and were situated in the lower grounds
near to the admin block. These were Plumfield, Dovedale, Rosefield and
Springfield. Also the Mortuary, known as 'Rose cottage' is not shown.Moving
up there were two detatched houses situated next to each other 1)
Independent living (preparation for hospital closure and 2) Autistic unit.
Balderton closed 1993 with plans for housing on the site
map link to the site at
NG24 3JRExternal link to history of Balderton House

December 1946 First Board of Visitors' review of Peter
Whitehead's case. "The future years were to teach him the bitter truth that
a man inside Rampton, fighting for his liberty, can achieve nothing by
himself. He is lost without outside help and outside pressure"
(Roxan 1958 p. 125)

January 1947 Peter
Whitehead moved from
E3 to the
Cedars7.1.1947 "I hope, please God,
to keep out of trouble as I have been doing since I have been here. I am
getting quite used to being here, and feel quite cheerful"
(Roxan 1958 p. 129)
Between January and September: Peter told that his mother had died.
September 1947 Peter
Whitehead joined Rampton's Boy Scouts (Roxan 1958 p. 134)
By Christmas 1947 Peter
Whitehead had been visited by Larry Morris and by his uncle Dennis
Whitehead. Dennis Whitehead lived in Hammersmith. His member of Parliament
was the Labour politican (and barrister)
Thomas Williams (22.9.1915 - 28.2.1986). who acted for Peter.
1948?Rampton Hospital14.11.1948
Noele Arden taken to Rampton from an unnamed "mental hospital"
in Somerset4.2.1950
Peter
Whitehead "I have started to live in fear of never being free. These people
who say they want to help me would sooner hold a person than give him a
chance. My uncle tells me he is up against a brick wall, trying to get me
out of here." (Quoted
Roxan 1958 p. 155)
1953: A five year old boy admitted to Rampton
November 1953 Peter Whitehead transferred to
Farmfield to be nearer
his uncle.
about 1954 Noele Arden moved to
Moss Side for a period
about 1955 "While I'd been away at Moss Side the
A block
wards had
been enlarged and modernized, and we were moved... When I went on to the
new ward, the doctors had started giving a form of treatment to about three
girls. This was the drug
largactol. It was new, and I suppose a start in
the right direction, and was the only drug apart from
Paraldehyde that I
saw given. The doctors never seemed to analyse the girls, like they do
today. You only saw a doctor if you asked to, or if your privileges were
stopped." (Noele Arden
1977 p. 76)
11.1.1955 Peter Whitehead returned to Rampton from
FarmfieldAugust/September 1955Albert R.N., film released October
1953, shown as the Rampton weekly film. Peter Whitehead suggested to others
that they make a dummy in the tailoring shop as in the film where it was
used as a cover for escape from a prisoner of war camp. The dummy being
discovered, Peter was sent to
D2 in the middle of September.
(Roxan 1958 p.220)
21.2.1956Kathleen
Rutty
discharged from Rampton by the High Court
December 1956
Peter Whitehead discharged from Rampton whilst writ of
habeas corpus before the High Court.
19.12.1956 First
Rampton questions in House of Commons from
Norman Dodds25.12.1956
Peter Whitehead's review under the
1913 Act [See
inside and outside struggle] would have fallen due. The date was
important because the weeks just before the Board of Visitors met were the
"high tide for escaping" as the Board only had "three month's grace in
which to review a patient's detention for another five years"
(Roxan 1958 p.238)
10.4.1957 Edith Haithwaite discharged from Rampton by the
High Court
about April 1957
Noele Arden discharged from Rampton on licence
May 1957:See Percy
Report2.12.1957 On 14.11.1957 "there were thirteen boys and three
girls, of whom one boy was five years old on admission" in Rampton. Since
1.1.1950 "eleven boys and three girls have been admitted, of whom the
youngest was the boy of five years".
Hansard19.12.1957Hansard: Debate on RamptonInvestigation into Rampton Hospital and insanity laws. London. Pathe
News: Unissued / Unused material. Various shots people round table, left to
right: James Stanton, Peter Whitehead, Robert George, Frank Haskell,
Elizabeth Allan, Dr Donald Johnson and Norman Dodds. CU Stanton and
Whitehead voting. Various shots Dodds talking.
1958Sentenced without Cause - The Story of Peter
Whitehead by David Roxan. Frederick Muller Limited, London.
1959 Mental Health Act
sections 97-98: Broadmoor,
Rampton
and
Moss Side
became Special Hospitals under the Ministry of Health.
27.4.1959
Question in Parliament about compensation for Edith
Haithwaite
1970s See
Essex Hall1977Child of a System by Noele Arden, Quartet Books.
May 1979The Secret Hospital Yorkshire TV Two-part
film about Rampton
hospital. 22.5.1979 "Rampton - The Big House" - 23.5.1979
"Eastdale - The Way Out". "Part 2 centres on Len Harding, locked up for 18
years, and his first tentative steps of freedom. (Followed up in 1986 by
Len Harding: Born a number).
2010
Sweet Briar demolished.
28.11.2011
A BBC film crew was allowed into Rampton Hospital for the first time in 18
years

HSH Rampton HospitalFlemming Drive, Woodbeck, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 0PD
400 Patients. Planning/Building an extra high-security wing for 70
more.
freedom campaign prison list -
new website400 Patients. Now has an extra high-security wing for 100 more with
"Personality Disorder". Also house's the Women's Directorate, a precursor
to a new national resource for all female people under psychiatric
jurisprudence.

Green Hill House, DerbyA mansion and outhouses
asylum - The paupers were kept in
"what had been the coach-house and stables".
about 1820 Green-Hill House built Cross Lanes, Derby, at the
junction of Green Lane and Macklin Street.
about 1830 purchased by
Thomas Morris (wife Anne) of the
Nottingham Asylum and
Thomas Fisher (wife Charlotte) of the
Lincoln Asylum. Thomas Morris would have been about 60 years old
and Thomas and Charlotte Fisher about 45.
1829/1831 Advertisement in Glover's The History and Gazetteer
of the County of Derby for a "Private Establishment for the Insane,
Green Hill House, Derby. Under the superintendence of Mr Morris and Mr
Fisher, surgeons etc" - "Mr and Mrs Morris superintended the General
Lunatic Asylum, near Nottingham, for twenty years and Mr and Mrs
Fisher also superintended the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum for more than ten
years."
(Sylvia Wright)6.10.1831 Mr Morris, Surgeon, resigned his post at
Nottingham
1835 Thomas Fisher, Lunatic Asylum, Green Hill, listed as a
surgeon in Pigot's Trade Directory. Under Public Buildings, Offices etc
"Asylum for the Insane, Green Hill House. Thomas Fisher superintendent"
1836 "Hanh. Bunting age 35 female lunatic, dangerous,
disordered 9 months, confined in Derby Lunatic Asylum since 25 Mar 1836 at
9s 0d per week." "Mary Bown age 25 female lunatic, dangerous,
disordered 4 or 5 months, confined in Derby Lunatic Asylum since 17 May
1836, at 9s 0d per week" (Both from Matlock) - "Thomas Buxton age 28
male lunatic, dangerous, disordered for some time before being confined, at
Derby for the last seven months at 9s 0d per week" (Bakewell) - "Elizabeth
Marple age 35 female lunatic, dangerous, disordered 4 months, confined in
Derby Asylum (Mr. T. Fisher) since 5 May 1836 at (s )d per week exclusive
of clothes" (Curbar) - "Samuel Chadwick age 50 male lunatic, confined in
Derby Asylum" - "Joseph Leam age 38 male lunatic, confined in Derby
Asylum. Certified by John Wright, Surgeon" (Both Crich) - Francis Calladine
age 50 male lunatic, dangerous, disturbed for 8 weeks, confined in Derby
Asylum at 9s 0d per week (Denby) - "John Hind age 40 male lunatic,
dangerous, disordered 2 years, confined at Mr. Fishers from March 14 1835
(Green-Hill House private asylum, Derby) at 9s 2d per week." (Markeaton) -
"Daniel Greatorex age about 50 male lunatic, dangerous, disordered about 9
months, confined at Derby since Aug. 10 1836 and previously at
Stafford and
Ashover, parish expense 9s 0d per week". "Mary Poyser age 44
female
lunatic, dangerous, disordered 3 years, at Derby since Aug.10 1836 and
previously at Derby,
Nottingham and
Ashover, parish expense 9s 0d per
week" (Wirksworth)
1841
Census: Thomas Fisher, Resident Surgeon and Charlotte
Fisher, Matron, both given as 55 years old. Elizabeth Fisher, 75 years old.
Six other people who are not patients and 21 patients. Three clearly not
paupers are not born in Derbyshire. The other patienst are all born in
Derbyshire and may be paupers.
November
1841 Local clerk unable to make a national return as his
papers had been lost in the Town Hall fire.
Visits by Metropolitan and County Visitors21.10.1842
First visit of the Metropolitan Commissioners: They released a
lady confined without certificates since May. Beds were in a disgusting
state and visiting justices had not visited for about a year.
10.11.1842 Metropolitan Commissioners wrote
to Derby Borough and County magistrates. The County had sent most of the
paupers in Green Hill House.
18431.1.1844 28 patients. 19 pauper and 9 private. Weekly charge
for
paupers 9/-
excluding clothes.
SEVERELY CENSURED IN 1844
REPORT"This Asylum has lately been transferred to another
Proprietor". - "...the present proprietor of the Derby Asylum,
is about to discontinue the Pauper part of his establishment"
(1844 Report)Proprietor (1844) Brigstocke, M.D.
"forced to close in 1844 due to the murder of a resident and extremely
poor living conditions." (source) [incorrect?]
1848 The Lunacy Commission asked the Lord Chancellor to enforce
the non-renewal of the licence of Green Hill House, Derby, after the death
of a patient there, killed by his room-mate. This action followed several
previous requests for the asylum to put an end to the prcatce two patients
sharing a bedroom together. A circular on the subject was issued the
following year. (Hervey, N.B. 1987) (References
MH50/3, 7.12.1848 and 21.12.1848 and
MH51/236, Circular No.28, 4.1.1849
3.1.1849 On behalf of the Lunacy Commissioners, Simpson, Frear
and Simpson, Derby solicitors, served on Dr Brigstocke, personally, a
notice of an application for prohibition of the renewal of licence.
(MH50/3 4.1.1849 pp 265-266)
9.10.1849 and 4.1.1850 Applications for new licences for
Green Hill House, Derby, by Dr. W. H. Ramsay. No. 2886
MH51/43 National
Archives"Green Hill House continued as a private asylum until 13 July 1853.
The proprietor at that time was Henry Brigstock, who acquired it in the
late 1840s".
"In 1914 Green Hill House was demolished and the Hippodrome Palladium
was built."

1844 Doctor Thomas Bent, Mr Oakes and Mr Clewes appointed
to enquire
about a suitable asylum. "the Derbyshire magistrates visited Conolly at
Hanwell together with
existing asylums at
Wakefield,
Nottingham
and
Gloucester. The importance of buying a larger farm than was
initially
required was urged, as an asylum farm was regarded as beneficial in
treating insanity."
(Sarah Rutherford)1844Report on the proposed Pauper Lunatic Asylum for the County
of Derby (Derby: for the Committee, 1844).
24.9.1845Letters
about plans at the Lunacy Commission1.1.1845 Henry Duesbury, the architect, attended the Lunacy
Commission, which had been selected after public competition from about
eighty. For the purposes of this asylum he was associated with Mr Peterson
of Derby.
January 1845 modified plans reported to Quarter Sessions.
8.10.1845 Henry Duesbury again attended the Lunacy Commission
and "stated... that the working drawings were complete, nearly the whole
expense so far as regards Architects assigns etc were concerned had been
already incurred, that the Visiting Justices did not consider themselves
bound in law, but voluntarily submitted the plans to the commissioners"
4.6.1846
Plans submitted to Elms for consideration23.7.1846
Disapproval of Derby County Asylum Plans28.11.1846 HO34/7, Letter from Lord Grey to the Lord Chancellor
concerning expense of proposed Derby asylum
(Hervey, N.B.
1987)11.2.184718.2.184729.3.1847 Deputation from Derby seeing Lunacy Commission? (Hervey, N.B.
1987)1847 John Conolly reproduced the (original) plan of "Messrs.
Paterson and Duesbury for the Lunatic Asylum at Derby" in
The Construction and Government of Lunatic Asylums and Hospitals for the
Insane as his first example of one "in almost every material
point accordant with the principles maintained" in his book. Points on
which, Conolly said, the Lunacy Commission had disagreed with the plan were
- that it was planned to accommodate 360 patients when only 216 lunatics
had been identified in the county (p.11) - that bedroom windows were too
high because of the special corridor that allowed people to move round the
asylum without going through wards (p.19) - that there was an
"unnecessary" proportion (two-thirds) of single rooms (p.25).

"In the year 1850 a deputation from the committee of the Derby
County
Asylum visited Hanwell, and after going over the buildings and thoroughly
inspecting all the details of that large establishment, then considered
unique, a spontaneous offer was made by them of the post of superintendent
of the asylum then being built at Mickleover, near Derby." [to
John Hitchman]
British Medical Journal 1893 April 22;
1(1686): 856.)

Derbyshire County AsylumCorridor form -
Close to Conolly's ideal
[A Sarah Rutherford case study]1849 Work started in on Derbyshire Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Designed by
Henry Duesbury - Warming and ventilation with assistance of Mr
Sylvester, engineer. Contractors Messrs T. and W. Cooper of Derby. Building
time: two years.
1849The history and directory of the Borough of Derby by
Stephen Glover. Fourth edition.
"The New County Lunatic Asylum now building at
Mickleover near Derby"1851 to 1893 registers and case books in Derbyshire Records
Office
1851 Medical Superintendent:
John Hitchman - until 1872.
(Previously Resident Medical Officer of the female side of
Hanwell). His wife, Mary Ann, was matron, and they had a joint
salary of £400
Two rooms furnished for Dr. and Mrs Hitchman who took up residence on
21.5.185110.7.1851 Mr Langley, the Steward, his wife and family arrived at
the asylum. Two horses were purchased by Sir Seymour Blane, Bart for the
use of the
asylum farms, also harness for three horses, a plough and
a
"scuffler". Two pigs purchased at £5 for the use of the asylum.
Vincent Morris, the farming man, and Attendant Trevett (at £25
increasing £1 per year up to £30) entered upon their duties.
The Committee authorised the purchase of bagatelle boards, magic lanterns,
draughts boards and books for the amusement and instruction of the
patients.
(Sylvia Wright)Unidentified says that Mr and Mrs Hitchman
and staff "lived in houses around the farmyard and the doctor devoted much
of his to the farm which had to be self-supporting. He became an excellent
vet, developing cures for animal illnesses and was a cattle and stock
breeder of repute"
Thursday, 21.8.1851 first patient
(Jabez Jackson) admitted. His death was recorded in the district
of
Burton in the June quarter of 1852. (Most of the information about Jabez is
from
Sylvia Wright. Family information from online searches)
21.8.1851 Opened with 300 beds in 12
wards and had
patients coming from all over Derbyshire to be treated. "Its building had a
profound effect on the people of Mickleover and provided much work for the
local population" (Derby online
about Mickleover -
archive). See also mapUnidentified says that "soon after the
opening of the asylum, patients were taking part in village activities".
John Hitchman "formed a patients' brass band which played at village fetes
and other events". "Female patients were encouraged to attend Bible classes
in the village and the men played cricket matches against both Mickleover
and Findern teams".
30.10.1851
Ellen Riggott and Mary Clarke admitted from
Haydock Lodge, chargeable to Chesterfield Union, that asylum
being compelled to close in consequence of two county asylums for Lancaster
opening. Both in a deplorable state when admitted, thinly clad and very
dirty. Not curable, both imbecile. Ellen Riggot epileptic.
The asylum casebook (1851-1858) records a picture of Ellen as "requiring
constant attention and care". She had a "great enlargement of the thyroid
gland" and walked "slowly and with difficulty". She had "no power to
communicate her wants by articulate tongue, being a congenital idiot of the
lowest degree". Between 1851 and 1853 she had "severe epileptic attacks
which will probably prove suddenly fatal." On 7.6.1853 "This patient died
suddenly this morning in a paroxysm of epilepsy. Post mortem, 'Died of
natural causes'"
(Sylvia Wright)28.12.1852 Architect's Report for first Annual Report (pages
5-17). The First Report of the Derbyshire County Lunatic Asylum 1853
contains the report of the Committee of Visitors (chairman,
Francis Hurt), presented 4.1.1853, the architect's report (Henry
Duesbury) and asylum plan, the report of the Medical Superintendent (John
Hitchman), the chaplain's report (Joseph Sowter), financial statements and
various statistical tables.[Used by Sarah Rutherford]
Sarah Rutherford says the asylum was not completed until
1853.
The Second Report... 1854 contains reports of the Committee of
Visitors (chairman, Sir Hugh Seymour Blane) presented 4.1.1854 and
John Hitchman, statements and tables.
The Third Report... 1855 contains the Visitors' report presented
2.1.1855, reports from John Hitchman, and the Chaplain (George
Fritche), statements and tables.
The Fourth Report... 1856 contains reports of the Committee of
Visitors (chairman, Sir Hugh Seymour Blane; reporter, Charles Clarke)
presented 2.4.1856 and John Hitchman and George Fritche, statements
and tables.
1856 John Conolly's
Treatment of the Insane without Mechanical Restraints
praised
Henry Duesbury and John Hitchman.
[In "1858 legislation was passed that doctors
had to follow a proper course for a degree and be licensed by the General
Medical Council. Dr Hitchman and many other doctors of the time had to
apply to the University of St Andrews, provided testimonials and
certificates and were then were awarded a degree."
(source)]
1860 John Hitchman led a group of landowners and farmers
in forming the Derbyshire Agricultural Show.
Unidentified says that John Hitchman was its
first chairman and drew up the rules of the society,
1861 census shows Linus and Jane Hubble as attendants at the
Derbyshire Lunatic Asylum.
(Douglas Poulter)1869 chapel erected
1871 County asylum refused to accept new patients from the
borough of Derby1872 Lindsay J M, M.D., LRCS.Ed. appointed Physician
Superintendent of the Derbyshire Lunatic Asylum, Mickleover, vice, J
Hitchman resigned.
(source)1872 John Hitchman retired due to ill health. He and Mary
Ann went to live in
Fairford.
James
Murray
Lindsay succeded as Superintendent Physician.
July 1872: E Maguire Courtenay, AB, MB, TCD. late Clinical
Assistant
West Riding Asylum to be Assistant Medical Officer Derby County Asylum
October 1873: S F Conolly, LRCP.Ed., MRCS appointed Assistant
Medical
Officer to the Derbyshire Lunatic Asylum, Mickleover, vice Courtenay,
appointed to Limerick Ireland.
1876-1877 Great Northern Railway arrived: Village expansion has
continued ever since, apart from a break during the second world war.
1881 Census: Medical
superintendent:
James Murray Lindsay, aged 47
1879 a water tower erected
1886 Last annual report. James Murray Lindsay still Medical
Superintendent.
November 1888Derby
Borough Asylum opened.
May 1891 Kelly's Directory
[source]:
County Lunatic Asylum, about one mile
south-west from the village [Mickleover] and 2 miles from the Great
Northern Railway station is a building in the Elizabethan style,
constructed of red brick, with portions of blue Staffordshire brick and
stone dressings, standing on rising ground and has a southern aspect,
overlooking the valley of the Trent, the Charnwood hills, Needwood and
portions of Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire and is surrounded by an
estate of 101
acres; the building contains 16 wards and is available for 477 patients,
there being at present (1891) 456. The asylum includes a large
entertainment room and dining hall, capable of seating 250 persons: the
east of the building, opened 21.8.1851, was £84,107 19s. 9d.: the
chapel, erected in 1869, is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel,
nave, transept and a tower with north porch & spire : the east window is
stained and there are also four vitremaine windows, placed in the church by
Mrs Murray-Lindsay, and 300 sittings. In 1879 a water tower was erected,
capable of holding 20,000 gallons. George Crompton, treasurer; James Murray
Lindsay M.D. superintendent physician; Richard John Legge M.D. assistant
medical officer; Rev. Reginald Canning Bindley M.A. chaplain ; Benjamin
Scott Currey, clerk to the committee ; Harry Langley, clerk ; Frank Barton,
storekeeper ; Alexander McWilliams, resident engineer ; Miss Ada Martha
Rawlings, housekeeper; Harry Bird and Miss Mary Withers, chief attendants
April 1918 "William R....admitted to the Mickleover
Lunatic
Asylum"
Became Derby County Mental Hospital (Mickleover)
1937Journal of Mental Science (1937) 83: article
on
"Mental Observation Wards: A Discussion of their Work and its
Objects" by E. U. H. Pentreath, Deputy Medical Superintendent
Derby County Mental Hospital, Mickleover and E. Cunningham Dax, Assistant
Medical Officer
Leavesden Hospital, Hertfordsire.
1948
Became Pastures Hospital, Mickleover, Derbyshire
1953The Pastures Hospital Mickleover 1851-1953
Sheffield Regional
Hospital Board, Derby Area No 3 Hospital Management Committee. (8 pages?)
1959 William R. spent "the last five years of his life in a
villa in the grounds called 'The Woodlands'"
1962 (Hospital Plan) 1,345 beds in 1960, although this
included annexes. Building improvements were expected to start before 1966.
A reduction to 900 beds by 1975 anticipated. As new psychiatric units
developed (presumably the one at Derby City hospital in particular)
Pastures would be one of three (out of 14) large mental illness hospitals
in the Sheffield area to close.
1964 "William R. died in the Pastures Hospital"
(Barham, P. 2004, p.358)
1971 George H. Gordon, a nursing offocer at Pastures,
wrote a
"History of the Pastures Hospital" as a series in the hospital magazine
The Gateway
Copies at the
Wellcome Library and Nottingham University

Picture of front of the hospital (overlooking valley) taken by
Douglas Poulter
in 1999. It shows the administration
unit between the male (right) and female (left) wings. To the right, one
can see how the original airing court has been built on the provide an
extra ward.

Autumn 1973 I was shown round the hospital by a friend's
mother,
who was a senior nurse. I had a plan of the original asylum which we
compared with the then hospital. At this time it had about 1,100 patients.
"The front of the asylum overlooks the valley of the Trent...
The old building is furthest away from the road and was extended backwards
[1880-1910?]. Since then villas have been built between the road and the
asylum. The wards of the old building have been gutted, abolishing the
single rooms and replacing with dormitories". At the front of the original
asylum there had been a gallery that provided a generous day room for
patients, overlooking the airing courts and the valley. This was backed by
single rooms (cells). In time, the single rooms were replaced by wards (F4
- F6 - ), the gallery became a ward (M1), another ward was added at the
front (F1), originally for
tuberculosis patients. At the time I visited, the downstairs
wards at the front were occupied "entirely by geriatric" patients. Upstairs
were "female chronic schizophrenics and a few subnormals" and (in F4 and
F6) by "long stay patients with nowhere else to go, many of whom would be
suitable for hostels"
Artist
Niall Young "began working at Pastures Hospital in Mickleover in
1989 and worked there until its closure in 1993."
1991Looking Back An anthology of writing from the
Pastures Hospital and Looking Forward an anthology from after the
Pastures, published by East Midlands Shape.
(Chronology of Disability Arts)
Unidentified: Chapter Six The Pastures HospitalDate of final closure 1994:County Asylums website1999 The building was empty when Douglas Poulter took
the photograph of the front that I have copied from
his web history of the Hubble family. To find his book about the
family enter "Hubbles" in the book search at
Lulu. Douglas
has given me considerable assistance with the
construction of the history of this hospital.
2002 Douglas Poulter took a picture of the front after it had
been
converted to flats.
2003
use: "Luxury housing"
2005Andy Savage photographs2008aerial photograph of front of asylum
converted into flats
archive

The farm buildings at Derby Borough Asylum, photographed by
Peter
Cracknell for the County Asylums website. Maxwell Craven
describes the asylum as "provided with
an avenue of trees and wide verges, with a ... cricket ground on its south
side. Each part ... separated ... by sweeping lawns and ... beyond the
cricket ground, was a model farm on which selected patients could work.

1899 to 1902 Erection of a separate building for
private female patients (Later Albany House).
1924 Thornhill House and gardens acquired
1929 Thornhill House opened for 40 female mental defectives
1932-1933 new nurses' home built.
1935 Thornhill House housed 40 female child patients under the
care of the matron, Miss Kathleen McGrenery, and Dr John Bain.
1938 Kingsway House built on the north edge of what had been
Thornhill's gardens. Intended as an
an admission block". "Kingsway House is an art deco
architectural tour-de-force". (Maxwell Craven)
1953 Farm "reduced to a remnant ... after the Second World War,
when
farm work was no long considered therapeutic." - Half the farm
buildings were demolished, leaving the rest for storage.
1962 (Hospital Plan): 864 beds in 1960. Expected to fall
to 600 by 1975.
May 1966 Fire damage to Thornhill House. Sometime after it
became a day centre.
1979: 535 beds

"Coton Hill Asylum was built in the 1850s and opened in 1854. It was
originally built as an extension to
the County Asylum in order to house private patients. It was to
be known as The Institution for the Insane of Staffordshire and the
Adjacent Counties."

The Coton Hill Institution for the Insane at Staffordfor Private Patients of the Middle and Upper Classes
A Registered
HospitalOpened 1854,
1854 Nineteen officers moved to Coton Hill from the
Military Luntic
Asylum at
Yarmouth on the recomendation of the Lunacy Commission
1881 Census: John Dale Hewson,
MD
Superintendent
66 male patients include nine from the army (if one includes "Hospital
Assistant Her Majesty's Service") - Four over 70 - Six of the officers on
"half-pay" - the other two "retired"
. 74 female patients. Total 140

Cheddleton County AsylumNear Leek, Staffordshire
Designed and built between 1893 and 1897 by
Giles, Gough, and
Trollope "leaders in the design of lunatic asylums". (English Heritage link). The water tower is "the
highest structure in Staffordshire Moorlands". (map)Opened 1898?Peter
Cracknell describes as Compact Arrow design.
Rossbret pictures - Asylums - Cheddleton
Asylum
Became Staffordshire Mental Hospital in 1948
St Edward's Mental Hospital, then
St Edward's Hospital, Cheadle Road, Cheddleton, Near Leek,
ST13 7ER or ST13 7EB
1979: 908 patients
Memoirs is a collection of four books (Repetition,
Resistance', Reminiscence and Recollection) based on
this hospital, with photographs and writings of Sharon Kivland, maps and
drawings by patients and references to the rules and regulations which
apply to staff. (August 2001)There is also a book: The History of St Edward's HospitalThere was a Nursing History Museum in Ward 4
(other museums)Autumn 2002: empty for a year
development plans to "combine refurbishment and new-build homes,
offering a selection of executive detached homes, mews style properties,
apartments and townhouses in a beautiful woodland setting."
(Redrow developers)

Weston Hall is about four miles from
Stafford near the River
Trent on the approaches to the village of Weston. Until 1947/1946 it was
owned by the Earl of Shrewsbury of nearby Ingestre Hall.
The Earl of Shrewsbury and Stafford Council agreed to
the use of Weston Hall as a Pauper Lunatic Asylum for two years from
24.6.1898 at 150 pounds per year payable half-yearly.
The
agreement also included the land adjoining comprising 2 acres and 3 rood
and 35 perches. In 1905 a further lease was agreed for a period of seven
years from 28.3.1904.
Kelly's 1908 Directory of Birmingham, Staffordshire,
Worcestershire and Warwickshire, states that Weston
Hall is temporarily rented by the Committee of Visitors of the
Staffordshire Lunatic Asylum (branch) that it will hold 45 female
patients and that Miss Fanny Dukes is the nurse in charge.
1911? Ceased being an asylum?
1947/1948 The parents of Kevin Godwin bought Weston Hall from
the Earl of Shrewsbury.
"My father told me the Hall had once been a mental hospital and that
when he bought it all the doors had double locks meaning the key had to
be turned twice to open or lock a door. One or two locks required the
key to be turned backwards in the locks to confuse any inmates who might
get hold of a key." (Kevin Godwin)

Cheshire County Asylum (Chester)
Opened August
1829. See
Rossbret site for some history
Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum 1829 to 1855
Originally built for 96, 10 private of each sex and 38 pauper of each
sex. To each a separate sleeping room.
Superintendent 1844 J. Leet. Surgeon.
1.1.1844 155
patients.
146 pauper and 9 private. In 1844 most paupers were sharing a room.
"The sleeping rooms in the pauper galleries are 10 feet by 8 feet and from
11 feet 3 inches to 12 feet in height, and two beds are now, for the most
part, placed in each room, providing present accommodation for 152"
1844?11% of patients
epilepticWeekly charge for
paupers: from outside Cheshire: 10/- (Cheshire
paupers: 4/1d, not including clothes).
(1844 Report) Contained 12 Welsh paupers on
23.7.1844
(1844 Welsh
Report pp 5-6 and 47)
Cheshire Lunatic Asylum 1855 to 1870
Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum1870
to 1921
1881 census: may be Chester County Lunatic Asylum, Chester St
Mary On Hill,
Sometimes known as West Cheshire County AsylumAbout 1918, an Annexe built
County Mental Hospital 1921 to 1948
Upton Mental Hospital 1948 to about 1955
Deva Hospital about 1955 to about 1965 [About 1970
suggested by
another source. Local people still know the hospital as "The Deva" in 2002]
In the 1950s Moston Hospital (Upton-by-Chester, CH2 4AA), an ex-
military hospital about two miles away, was used for patients from the
Wirral area. Its buildings were "wooden military style"
West Cheshire Hospital about 1965 to 1984
About 1972, a Maternity Unit was opened on what had been part of
the hospital farm. This was the first stage of the development of the
extensive grounds into a group of hospitals in a park.
About 1976 a Psychiatric Unit was added to the Clatterbridge
(General) Hospital Bebington, Wirral, L49 5PE, and took the acute
patients from Moston. Others went to West Cheshire or were found homes in
the community.
The 1979 Hospital
Year Book lists: West Cheshire
Hospital
as "Long-stay psychiatric and geriatric" with 997 beds;
West Cheshire Hospital Maternity Wing, with 141 beds, at the same address,
and Moston Hospital, 272 beds as "Mental
Illness". Moston Hospital was demolished not long after it was vacated, and
reverted back to army use.
About 1983 a new District General Hospital opened in the grounds
of the West Cheshire, called the Countess of Chester Hospital. The whole
site was renamed The
Countess of Chester Health Park, but the mental health unit retained
the name West Cheshire Hospital and was managed by a different
health trust: The Wirral and West Cheshire NHS TrustThe original 1829 Chester Asylum Building was
converted into Health Authority and Ambulance headquarters around
1990. "A handsome brick structure, with noble centre & wings".
"superb, and listed". The other admin block on the mental health site is
now trust
headquarters for the newly formed Wirral, and South Cheshire Partnership
NHS Trust. The mental health services (acute wards, cafe, staff dining
room recreation hall, admin offices etc) are now in the Annexe. It provides
the acute in-patient facility for the districts of
Chester and Ellesmere Port, as well as some wards for the functional
elderly mentally ill. A new mental health unit is to be built on the site
of the former staff home and social club
1994: 179 patients
[Some addresses: Countess of Chester Hospital, Liverpool Road,
Chester, CH1 2BA. Countess of Chester NHS Trust, Countess of Chester
Health Park, Liverpool Road, CH2 1UL]
(map)[My main source for much of this history has been Nigel Roberts who
worked as a psychiatric nurse at West Cheshire Hospital from 1973 to 1984.
For his photographs see "Northern Asylums" on
Gordon Tozer's site].
There is a book: Insane but not daft - Opening the door on Chester's
Mental Hospital Semi fictional story of a male nurse at Chester in the
1960s. Written much later.

Cheshire County Asylum (Macclesfield)Opened 1871Corridor form1881 Census: Principle Officer:
Dr
John H. Davidson, unmarried, aged 50. The asylum appears to be next to the
workhouse. The address is Chester County Lunatic Asylum, Upton in
Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
Known as Cheshire County Mental Hospital from about 1920
Parkside County Mental Hospital (1948 reference)
Then Parkside Hospital, Victoria Road, Macclesfield, SK10
3JF.
Autumn 2002: Reported closed but empty
"the County Lunatic Asylum (Parkside) at Upton Macclesfield is now
the Parkside Hospital, also on the east of the site, where the Macclesfield
Union Workhouse was, is Macclesfield General Hospital. It's very confusing
as there was also a County Lunatic Asylum at Upton
Chester, which is now the Countess of Chester Hospital
(Stan Mapstone) [A
fever hospital is shown as part of the workhouse on an 1882 map]
(map)

Liverpool Lunatic AsylumA
HospitalOpened
1792.
See University of Liverpool's history of foundation by James
Currie(archive)The asylum was built in the gardens adjoining the Liverpool Infirmary.
It had 80 beds. The first Keeper and Matron were brought from St. Luke's
Hospital London. The first Governor was Mr John Davies.
Superintendent 1844
G. Tyrell. 1.1.1844 73 patients. 36 pauper and 37 private. Weekly
charge for paupers: 12/- including clothes Sometimes received Welsh
paupers (at 12/- a week)
(1844 Welsh
Report pp 5-6).
Closed about 1889 to make room for new building of the Liverpool
Royal Infirmary.

1831 "The second Liverpool Lunatic Asylum was built on Brownlow
Hill with four acres of grounds. It was part of the Liverpool Infirmary and
had beds for 64 "insane people"".
1834 "This institution formed for the truly benevolent purpose
of affording relief to one of the most dreadful of human afflictions was
originally opened in the year 1789 near to St John's Church but was
recently removed to the present commodious and neat stone building situate
in Ashton-street, Brownlow Hill". (source)In 1882 University College, Liverpool, opened in a disused lunatic
asylum
1895 "in the grounds of the Victoria Building where part of
Brownlow Hill's old vacated lunatic asylum still stood and which housed
some of the College's departments."
(source)

Brownlow Hill Workhouse"In 1790 the population of Liverpool was 55,732. It already had an
Infirmary and a Workhouse. The Infirmary, built in 1745 stood on what is
now St. Georges Plateau, and Brownlow Hill Workhouse, built in 1770, stood
on the site of the present Metropolitan Cathedral."
(University of Liverpool's history)Not mentioned in the 1844 Report
On list with lunatic wards MH50 5.2.1849
8.12.1849Liverpool Journal Report of a vist to Brownlow
Hill Workhouse "an extensive clump of buildings, ranging in the wall, which
extends from Mount Pleasant to Brownlow Hill." Includes a visit to "the
lunatic asylum" where "poor pauper lunatics are kept here till there is a
vacancy at Lancaster". "Four adult men [in a room above] and seven women
are confined." "I was surprised that the poor fellows who guard the
lunatics, were paupers themselves and were given no extra remuneration."
(Source:
Old Mersey Times)
1858 The Magistrates responsible for
Rainhill agreed to the
transfer of some chronic patients from Rainhill to the Liverpool workhouse,
to make room for curable cases. The Lunacy Commission said the magistrates
should satisfy themselves:
1. That a sufficient staff of responsible paid nurses and attendants
should be employed.
2. That a fixed liberal diet (to be sanctioned by the medical
superintendent of the asylum) should be allowed.
3. That the clothing and bedding should be warm and good.
4. That the rooms should be rendered much more cheerful, and be better
furnished than at present.
5. That the present small flagged yards should be enlarged and planted
as gardens.
6. That the patients should be frequently sent out to walk in the
country
under proper care.
7. That the patients should have the benefit of regular daily medical
visitation ; and that the register of admissions, discharges, and deaths,
and also the
medical journal required to be used in asylums (by the Act 16th and 17th
Victoria, cap. 97, Schedules 1, 2, 3,) should be kept by the medical
officers who shall visit the patients in the workhouse."
1.11.1858
A description in a letter from Procter, who had visited
Liverpool Workhouse to see "the preparations that they were making to
receive patients".

Manchester Lunatic Asylumnot receiving paupers in 1844
Opened 1766Hospital Database says at an "unknown location"
from
1763 to
about 1850. However, a common picture
(see below) suggests it was the same
site as the Infirmary, which was in Manchester Picadilly from its
foundation in 1752 to 1909
Much of the following detail is from the
Wellcome Library catalogue1792:An Extract from a sermon preached in the Collegiate
Church of Manchester, March 4, 1792, before the governors of the Infirmary,
Dispensary, Lunatic, Hospital and Asylum, for the benefit of those
charities by C. Bayley. 10 pages
1804:A letter to the trustees of the Manchester Infirmary,
Dispensary, Lunatic Hospital, & Asylum by James Jackson. Manchester:
R. & W. Dean. 48 pages.
1828 Pauper lunatics from the Hundred of High Peak in
Derbyshire are shown as patients. "Samuel Smith age 22 male
lunatic,
dangerous, disordered 2 years" - "William Hyde age 52 male lunatic
dangerous, disordered about 5 years" - 11.3.1828 "Anne Hardy age 29
female lunatic, dangerous, disordered about 3 years, confined ... at 10s 6d
per week." - July 1828 "Isaac Hall age 28 male lunatic, dangerous,
disordered since July last" was confined by October (probably earlier) -

1831
High Peak pauper lunatics: "Sarah Wilson age 47 female
lunatic, moderate, disordered 2 years"
1836
High Peak pauper lunatics: "Charles Bradbury age 23 male
lunatic, dangerous, disordered for some time before being confined. At
Manchester Lunatic Asylum for 9 months at 10s". Charles Bradbury was later
moved to Green Hill House
Derby - "John Whalley age 30 male lunatic, dangerous,
disordered 2 years and upwards" - "William Hyde age 40 male lunatic,
dangerous when disordered" - "Joseph Mellor age 34 male lunatic, dangerous
when disordered, disordered about 2 months" -
Report of the state of the Manchester Royal Infirmary Dispensary,
Lunatic Hospital and Asylum Two volumes: 24.6.1837-24.6.1838 and
24.6.1839-24.6.1840
1.1.1844: 36 private patients
In 1849 Manchester Infirmary was bounded by Piccadilly, George Street
Parker Street and Portland Street

From about 1850: the
Lunatic Hospital at what is now 100 Wilmslow
Road, Cheadle
SK8 3DG.
June 1851:Report of the Manchester Royal Lunatic Hospital,
situate in the township of Stockport Etchells near Cheadle, Cheshire : this
institution is in connexion with the Manchester Royal Infirmary
Consists of the report of the general committee (Salis Schwabe,
Treasurer) including reports of the Commissioners of Lunacy
(S. Gaskell,
J.W. Mylne, W.G. Campbell, T. Turner), report of the medical
officers (R.F. Ainsworth, F. Renaud, Thomas Dickson) and an engraving of
the south east front of the asylum
Second annual report of the Manchester Royal Lunatic Hospital,
situate near Cheadle, Cheshire, for the year from June 25th 1851 to
June 24th 1852. Salis Schwabe, chairman. Medical Superintendent:
Thomas Dickson.
1852/1853: Canon Clifton (R.C. Clifton) Treasurer. R.C. Clifton
later (1857/1858) shown as chairman of the Committee of Management.

Henry Maudsley -
Cheadle superintendentLate 1858Henry Maudsley
became superintendent and remained for
three years. He recommended George Mould as his successor.
1861 Census Henry Maudsley, unmarried, aged 26, born
Giggleswick, Physician shown as Superintendent of the Hospital. Completion
of records may be defective. For example, instead of listing patients,
there is a table of "female patients" showing number in each age range:
15:1 - 20:3 - 25:3: 30:6 - 35:6: 40:3 - 45:3 - 50:3 - 55:2 - 60:0 - 65:2
- 75:2. [Total is 34]

William Victor Wadsworth -
Cheadle superintendent1951 Chisholm Roy retired and was succeded as superintendent by
his deputy William Victor Wadsworth (4.4.1920 - 4.9.1983.
BSc Manchester (1941) MB ChB (1944) DPM (1948) MRCP (1960) FRCP (1965)
FRCPsych (1971.) who carried on "the Cheadle Royal tradition of lavish
entertainment... Many people in Manchester, both lay and medical, remember
with nostalgia the Cheadle Royal parties of those day. He also "steered it
through the changes which occurred in psychiatry in this period, discarding
locks on doors and using drugs, ECT and insulin coma therapy, but later
more and more discarding the physical treatments for psychotherapeutic
ones."
(Munks Roll)1955 Introduced the features of the "therapeutic community" as
outlined by
Maxwell Jones.
(Jones and Sidebotham 1962 p.34)
"He was a pioneer in two developments: industrial therapy and day
hospitals, helping to build up the very successful industrial unit Cheadle
Royal Industries, which virtually became a paper hat making factory,
selling to firms such as Woolworths. At this time he wrote a number of
papers on the rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients by industrial
therapy". (Munks Roll)14.9.1957Lancet (4; 273 (6994): pp 533-534.)
article by
W.
V. Wadsworth, W. L. Tonge and L. E. Barber "Cost of treatment of affective
disorders; a comparison between three mental hospitals."
William Lawton Tonge, born 1925, was Deputy Medical Superintendent at
Cheadle Royal
[The idea for the research (1958-1959) that lead to Mental Hospitals
at Work (1962) originated with Dr Wadsworth.
(Jones and Sidebotham 1962 p.ix). They
describe the study by Wadsworth, Tonge and Barber as "A pilot
survey of three hospitals" (Jones and Sidebotham 1962, p.166)]
25.10.1958Lancet (25; 2 (7052): pp 896-897.
article by W.V. Wadsworth, R.F. Scott, and W.L. Tonge "A hospital
workshop".
R.F. Scott, B.A. London, Diploma Psychology was Industrial Director at
Cheadle.
"In 1959 he [Wadsworth] invited Gordon Cross to come from the
Bristol Day
Hospital to open a similar one at Cheadle. This developed as a therapeutic
community and in association with the industrial unit helped in the
rehabilitation of both neurotic and psychotic patients."
(Munks Roll)9.9.1961Lancet (Volume 278, No. 7202, pp 593-595)
article by W.V. Wadsworth, R.F. Scott, and B.W.P. Wells "Employability of
long-stay schizophrenic patients". B.W.P. Wells, B.A. Bristol was
"Research psychologist" at Cheadle.
"Crown Lodge" in
Jones and Sidebotham 1962. See
June 1958 to June 19591967Cheadle Royal Hospital A Bicentenary History by
Nesta Roberts published by John Sherratt and Son Ltd of Altrincham. Ten
introductory pages, 189 pages and 24 plates, including 4 in colour.
External link to Affinity Healthcare website -
archiveDecember 2004 Duke Street acquired Affinity. "Affinity
operated 248 beds in two hospitals: Cheadle Royal Hospital in Cheadle,
Cheshire, and
Middleton St George Hospital in Darlington, County Durham.
Affinity also operated a community home based in Darlington. With 3% of the
independent psychiatric care beds in the market, the company was
particularly strong in the North of England."
"There were 32,000 psychiatric care beds in the UK, 7,600 of them
provided by the independent sector. In 2005 the independent sector
market was worth about £800 million. Continued growth was expected,
because the need for more specialised services and the NHS's focus on
community services meant services being increasingly contracted out to the
independent sector."
January 2010 Duke Street sold its stake in Affinity to the
Priory GroupThe Priory Hospital Cheadle
Royal[Nigel Roberts' photograph see "Northern Asylums" on
Gordon Tozer's site].
English Heritage: Cheadle Royal, Manchester, built 1847-1849 as
a private asylum for the middle and upper classes

Peter Higginbotham says:
"As well as Bridge Street, the former parish workhouse on Moston Lane at
Harpurhey seems to have continued in use as shown on the OS map of
1848.... A small lunatic asylum was located to its west."

"The first meeting of the
Getting To Know
You
'core' group was held in
December 1982. It consisted of Judith Gray,
Nigel Rose
and Neill Simpson, a senior registrar in psychiatry, but was soon expanded
to include two more psychologists, a drama therapist and a senior hospital
social worker. Their tasks at this stage were twofold: to pilot the first
stage of Getting to Know You by carrying out some initial assessments and
to begin to sell the project to other staff members. In addition Neill
Simpson undertook a survey of all hospital patients to ensure that the
eventual sample would be representative. The aim from the beginning was to
involve as many staff as possible. Meetings designed too inform and
enthuse' were held across the hospital".

There are several themes which pervade the group meetings such as 1.
Stigma; 2. Finances; 3. The things needed in hospital; 4. The legal rights
of a patient; 5. Moving out of hospital; Services and treatment; 7. The
relations between the police and the mentally ill; 8. Work and trying to
get it; 9. problems in general; 10. Support; 11. Accommodation; 12. Crime
and the law.

One new concept that has arisen during the formulation of the User's Group
is
'advocacy'.

Valerie Harrington says that Douglas Inchbold was "responsible for setting
up a Users Forum. From November 1986, patients and ex-patients met
regularly, initially to discuss issues around the resettlement programme,
though the agenda broadened over time to cover many aspects of service use.
In
1987 they gave a presentation to the MIND conference, followed
by the
publication of a booklet,
The Patient's Case which described their experiences as
service users both inside and outside the hospital... This eventually
developed into the
North Manchester Users Group, which is still thriving to the
present
day."

Social Services Inspectorate, 1986. Inspection of services for mentally
ill- Manchester. Draft report for circulation within the authority, Mental
Health Services Archive, CHSTM, University of Manchester. On page 34
described Springfield as "one of the worst hospital sites they had visited
in the country"
(Harrington, 2009, p.668

"... for the first week of the new team... we all went off to
Trieste. So we were a new resettlement team, newly sort of enthused, went
over to Trieste, spent an incredible week... having our minds blown... and
came back with ... an emotional reaction against the things that we had
witnessed and experienced in the hospital institution with a much ... more
robust kind of ideological understanding of the process of
deinstitutionalisatio... There was an element of
evangelising.."

"... we were very intrigued by it and basically wanted to keep
up te link and continue the set up. We actually set up a Trieste fund. I
was thinking it out, and we got a little logo and we set up [name], which
was, the purpose was to set up educational exchanges in
effect."

"This group included
Vinnie Gillespie, above.
This stage of recruitment was significant in that it allowed us to
recruit local people with a wide range of local contacts, varied
experience and an understanding of how best to help people moving out of
hospital make best use of local informal support networks" Douglas
Inchbold

15.11.1988 Mike Bishop (Director of Social Services in Manchester)
visited the users group.

April 1989 Alan Hartman Vice-chair, Group Advocate,
Manchester Users' Support Group wrote about "Advocacy by a user" in
Asylum

"I was helping and representing patients long before I
understood the word 'advocacy'. No-one asked me or told me to do it. It was
entirely spontaneous"

"When socialising in hospital or out in the community, with other users,
people just talk about their problems... In general, I've gone with them,
and spoken for them and sorted out the problems, if they asked me to."

"I felt more nervous than when I took my driving test when I was taken into
ward rounds. It affects others in different ways. Self-advocacy can be
produced by self-help group meetings on a ward. It seems to help
communication and motivation to help yourself."

"I got involved with advocacy through the hospital user group, now called
the manchester Users' Support Group (MUSG). I was unanimously voted in as a
group advocate. We were then near the stage where I would be meeting
nurses, therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, head-on. It was strongly
urged by the group to drop advocacy except on welfare rights and general
advice, until I become recognised by all concerned, and get organised and
protected against prejudices which will obviously occur. I do, however,
make regular appointments with the Unit General manager, where I advocate
on behalf of individual users, and about group problems.

"We have discussed the needs of a hospital advocate at our meetings. A
phone and an office were most people's first request. In fact we were
offered to share with The Patient's Association. But this would have been
inadequate.

"The payment of advocates was discussed at this early stage - at least
therapeutic earnings, or money one is allowed to earn on top of benefits.
We feel this should be encouraged by professionals. Whether user or
professional, no-one can be expected to work continuously for nothing."

Altaf Ramtoola spent a lot of time working with people from South Asian
communities. He formed
an organsiation in North Manchester called
Awaaz and this developed into
an employment project with a shop premisis. To some extent this was a way
to provide non stigmatised access to South Asian people who needed help
with mental health problems. It is still going,
http://www.manchesterdirectory.co.uk/info/2308/
(Douglas Inchbold 3.9.2012)

July 1989
Mark Greenwood, Harpurhey Health Centre, Rochdale Road, Manchester 8 a new
member of the Asylum editorial team, along with Paul Baker of Manchester
Mind.

The two staff, Tony Riley and Altaf Ramtoola, were initially accountable to
the Users Group. When this was found not to work, they became accountable
to a "steering group". They were employed by a
VCS umbrella organisation for a period and moved base to East
Manchester.

"Speaking personally, I felt that there were three currents,
three strands that were going. One was the 'Survivors Speak Out' stuff, so
it's actually service users' autonomous voice work that was coming. The
second one was very much our strand, which was the resettlement programme,
because it wasn't just us, it was happening across the UK. And then the
third one is the legacy of people like Laing and so on, Cooper, so people
who had set up alternative, counter-therapy type .. therapeutic
communities. And it was that melange of the three that I felt ...heady
days."
(Harrington, 2009, pp 201-202

Gaskell House opened mid 1960s. A 21-bedded unit in an old house at the
back of Manchester Royal Informary, "which had been extended to provide an
out-patient department. For a number of years Gaskell provided the
University Department of Psychiatry's main clinical facilities and
continued to function as a teaching unit until the building was
condemned in 1991".
(Harrington, 2008, p.)"

1971 Day hospital and out-patients department opened
"Known as 'The Maudsley of the North', Withington Hospital Psychiatric
Unit, which opened in 1971, was attached to a large district general
hospital (DGH). It had a dual role: to provide a local service for the
people of South Manchester and to provide teaching facilities for doctors,
nurses and social workers" (Val Harrington)

November 1991 HAS report published

2001 Closure

"Rowan ward was part of the Healey House unit on the Withington Hospital
site. Since the transfer of most clinical services to Wythenshawe Hospital
in 2001, Rowan Ward had been the only remaining psychiatric in-patient unit
on the Withington site (co-managed with the Brian Hore Unit, a day
treatment facility for alcohol dependence), and Rowan Day Hospital,
also based in Healey House. -
A commissioning decision was made in 1999 to re-provide the unit through
Anchor Housing in a new-build facility called Monet Lodge. This unit is now
open and the residents of Rowan ward were transferred there in July 2003
following a period of interim care on Cavendish ward, Laureate House,
Wythenshawe Hospital."

"half the site is
now executive housing/flats, although the large neo-gothic buildings
across the road remain standing, and are in good condition. Ridge Lea
Hospital, which is just across a road behind the main buildings of
Lancaster Moor... is essentially a small asylum as it was built around
1920's as an annexe for the Moor Hospital." (Nigel Roberts
28.11.2002)

Situated at a junction of the
new railway
system
that allowed patients
to be sent from most parts of the country. A speculation of
Charles Mott
(ex-poor law officer) and
George
Coode
(Assistant Secretary to the Poor Law
Commissioners). George Coode's relationship with the project was
a secret.

Tuesday 10.2.1846: A special meeting of the Lunacy Commission to receive a
deputation, headed by Brotherton, the Salford MP, putting the case for two
new asylums: one
near Manchester
and the other near Liverpool.
Two new Lancashire County Asylums (the 2nd and 3rd) opened at Rainhill and
Prestwich on 1.1.1851.

Rainhill is between Liverpool and Warrington. It served Liverpool.
Before 1847: Designed by
Harvey Lonsdale Elmes1.1.1851 Opened: "built to accommodate 300 patients and opened
with approximately 220" (Liverpool Record Office)
Known as County Lunatic Asylum, Rainhill,
Corridor form"By 1852, the committee was having to admit 400 patients and
from then onwards was constantly reporting that the asylum was
overcrowded."
About 1853 to April 1858: Superintendent
John Davies CleatonIt had 400 patients in 1856.
1856 Report: " the asylum has been full throughout the
year, and patients have only been received as vacancies occured by death
and discharges." - The preponderating cause of death was
general paralysis.
Of 42 deaths, 16 were general paralytics. [The proportion was higher at
Prestwich]. The other main cause was
pulmonary consumption.
It had 400 patients in 1858.
1859? Temporary (?) removal of some chronic patients to
Liverpool Workhouse"In 1859, additional wards were built to house another 228
patients and 32 single rooms were added to existing wards, along with a
recreation hall and new workshops. In 1860 it was decided that the hospital
should purchase the farm on the opposite side of the road, for
£2100." (Liverpool Record Office)
"In 1877, the Medical Superintendent, Dr Rogers, started a
crusade for a new asylum. He decided that if land were available, it would
be an advantage to expand Rainhill Asylum, rather than build a separate
establishment, and to split the site between chronic and acute cases."
(Liverpool Record Office)
"In 1878, the county authorities purchased land for the building
of the annexe. It was designed by G E Grayson to house around 1000 patients
and was opened in April 1887; it was used for patients whose
conditions had seriously deteriorated."
1881
Census: Physician head: Thomas Lawes Rogers
Annexe (Asylum Annexe, Eccleston, Prescot?) built 1881 to
1887
(opened). Enlarged to take 200 patients in 1898. Annexe demolished 1900.
1889 Thomas Lawes Rogers, Rainhill, Superintendent of the County
Lunatic Asylum at Rainhill.
1900 Total patients: 2,029
December 1911 Total patients: 1,990. 975 men and 1015 women
1913 Joseph Wiglesworth, Medical Superintendent
Became County Mental Hospital, Rainhill.
1936 Total patients: 3,000
1946 Benedict Finkleman (1906-1966) appointed deputy medical
superintendent, having previously (from 1936) been on the staff at
Winwick.
1948? Became Rainhill HospitalBenedict Finkleman appointed superintendent.
See
June 1958 to June 19591962 (Hospital Plan) 2,750 staffed beds on 31.12.1960.
1,240 expected in 1975
9.10.1966 Death of Benedict Finkleman
Address Rainhill Road, Prescot, L35
4PQ.
1979 Total
patients: 1,768
1984 Scott Clinic, "one of the first purpose-built medium secure
units" opened.
1986
BBC Domesday "Rainhill Hospital was built as a lunatic
asylum for long-term patients. The building is in two parts:
Avon wing and
Sherdley wing. The latter has newly built Scott Clinic, a secure
building for dangerous patients such as murderers. The Benedict Clinic is
for the cure of alcoholics. Once a patient shows signs of
recovery they are allowed to re-enter the community. They can live
in flats near the hospital and return each day for special medication.
Their part of the hospital is called Elton Vale. There, Occupational
Therapy is attempted by providing instruction in life-skills such as
cooking, shopping and handicrafts. On
occasions, depressed patients kill themselves in the area. Some disturbed
patients wander into the village where
they sometimes frighten children.
1991 closed
1993Psychiatric Bulletin articlereplaced by a Business Park
2014 Scott Clinic to close
(source)See The Colonnade which is all about Rainhill.
There are many interesting photographs on this site, including
a selection by Nigel Roberts

Prestwich is just north of Manchester.
Prestwich Asylum - see above"The land chosen for the Hospital is in an area first known as
Prestwich Wood in 1652. The land was owned by Thomas Compton until his
death in 1776, when Nathaniel Milne bought the land, which then came into
the possession of his son, Oswald in 1847. The Hospital was opened in
1851 to accomodate 500 patients, and originally built to face West
with the main entrance on Clifton Road".
It had 500 patients in 1856.
1856 Report:
" Each
year the difficulties of receiving patients have increased, and
numerous applications for admission have consequently been
refused." Out of 58 deaths, 31 were general paralytics. [See
Rainhill]
It had 510 patients in 1858.
"In 1863 it was extended to accommodate afurther 560 patients"
1881 Census: Medical officers
were
Herbert
Rd Octavius Sankey, Henry George Murray and Benjamin Russell Baker (all
surgeons)
1884 "the Annex was built. The Annex was built to house 1,100
patients and was served by bus due to it's distance from the main Hospital
Site."
1889
Henry Rooke Ley, Prestwich, Superintendent of the County Lunatic
Asylum at
Prestwich.
"By 1903 the site could handle 3,135 patients from Salford,Manchester
and South Lancashire, of which 50 per cent recovered and 6.57 per cent
died."
1917-1919 Montagu Lomax assistant medical officer. Published
The experiences of an
asylum doctor in 1921. "He stated that the patients were
poorly fed and poorly clad; that they were closely confined...that the
nurses were mostly unqualified, unsuited to the nature of their work". He
instanced specific cases of open cruelty to patients.
(Jones, K.
1960 p.100)
by 1929Lancashire County Mental Hopital1949Prestwich HospitalSee
June 1958 to June 19591962 (Hospital Plan) 2,837 staffed beds on 31.12.1960.
1,000 expected in 1975
early 1975Manchester Mental Patients
Union and Prestwich Hospital20.11.1977 Minutes record aproach from Manchester Mental
Patients Union about access.
6.12.1977Manchester Mental Patients Union show film5.4.1978 minutes record some continuing concern about Mental
Patients Union access.
1986BBC Domesday:
"PRESTWICH HOSPITAL The present area covered by the Hospital on its
two sites is 58.54 hectares, and it employs 1421 people, making it one
of the biggest hospitals of its type in Europe. The main
Hospital is divided into four main groups ACUTE
SERVICES- short term assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
REHABILITATION-
support for domestic and social skills. ELDERLY
SERVICES-
care and assessment REGIONAL SPECIALITIES- secure unit Special units
are Adolescent Secure Unit a unique service for 20 referred young
people. McGuiness Unit- Full time education with a staff of five
teachers. Alcohol Treatment Unit. Kenyon House- Regional drug
dependence Unit. Industrial Therapy Unit which produces items for sale.
Since 1994: It is
now the Mental Health Services of Salford, Bury New Road, Prestwich, M25
7BL. (map)

1996 The final long stay ward closed. Part of the site remained,
with regional specialist services, expanded to include a unit for mentally
distressed deaf people and a high dependency unit, and the administrative
headquarters of the Mental Health Services Salford NHS Trust.
"A new superstore dominated the remainder of the land".
(Harrington, 2004, p.

"buildings of red brick and grey stone"... There are two
main blocks, each with its own grounds and bounded by a high stone wall...
the massive iron gates are always open". (p.55) [The photograph below of
part of Rainhill was taken by Nigel Roberts]

"The medical superintendent at Northtown said in conversation, 'I'm running
five hospitals - the male and female sides of the main building and the
Annexe, and the neurosis unit" (p.64)

There are 2,750 beds (p.56) -
There are 2,750 patients in the hospital (p.63)

The Annexe "block, which is devoted exclusively to the care of long-stay
patients, is the biggest in the hospital. It houses 1,700 patients, male
and female. in wards which stem off from a rigidly straight main corridor.
A visitor may stand at one end, and look down successive receding arches to
the door at the other end, exactly a quarter of a mile away. Every bed is
occupied and there are very few discharges except by death, so that the
population is very nearly static" (pp 59-60)

After 1932 plans for special units for voluntary patients (all of the
County) were put in hand. "At Northtown, two small modern villas were
constructed, and a separate neurosis unit was planned, though this was not
completed before the outbreak of war in 1939" (p.56)

Although the neurosis unit has between 40 and 50 patients, it could easily
house twice that number (p.62)

"the total number of patients in the two villas and the neurosis unit does
not exceed 250" (p.63)

nearly 80% of patients in Northtown were "certified". "This may reflect...
the types of patient admitted. Many come from the dock areas of a large
port, and some are immigrants" (p.109)

"it is half and half of a site. The St Mary's site has been
demolished, although the St Luke's
site is still standing and empty. Estates buildings are still in use, as
well as a single storey unit for Huntingdon's patients. Market garden also
on site. A new multi million pound 150 bed MSU is also on site. A few
cottages in the grounds are also being upgraded for move on accommodation
for the MSU. Superb church in the grounds, and the social club - the heart
of any asylum - is still going strong." (Nigel Roberts 1.12.2002)

"The Lancashire Asylums Board was
established in 1891, by the
county council and all fifteen of the county boroughs. Ten years later the
Lancashire Inebriates Acts Board was established, but the County Borough of
Oldham did not participate.
The Inebriates Acts Board built a reformatory at Brockhall (in the Ribble
Valley, but its function gradually changed and by 1920 it was a
certified institution
for mental
defectives. 1925 saw the dissolution of the Inebriates Acts Board and the
Asylums Board became the Lancashire Mental Hospitals Board."
(Bob Hayes
20.12.2003 Bob has now added a page to his website with fuller details).

Winwick Hospital, Winwick, near Warrington (postcode was WA2 8RN)
appears to have become a County Lunatic Asylum in 1897. Comparing
information from Rossbret and the
Hospital Database:
Winwick Hall was a boys school in the 18th century, and became
an Asylum in 1897. It was known as Winwick Hall from 1897 to
1915.
Dual Pavilion?In 1910:
Attendants formed National Union of Asylum Workers.
Used as
the Lord Derby War Hospital from 1915 to 1920.
for the care and treatment of soldiers and pensioners suffering from
neurasthenia or loss of mental balance (Hansard 12.4.1920) -
C.S. Read lists this as, by far, the largest of the War Mental
Hospitals, with 1,000 beds in 1918.
Known at some time as Winwick
Asylum. Became
Lancashire County
Mental Hospital, Winwick.
In 1921 Alexander Simpson, C.B.E., M.A., M.D., CM.Aberd., was
Medical Superintendent of the County Asylum, Winwick and
Frederick Millar Rodgers M.D., Ch.B.Vict., D.P.H., was Senior Medical
Officer. In 1922 A. McM. W. Segerdal was Assistant Medical
Officer
Several patients admitted between January 1923 and September
1926,
mostly with
general paralysis, received
malarial therapy and were studied over a ten year period by John
Ernest Nicole (1894-1963) and others. In 1927 Nicole (L.M.S.S.A.
London) was Senior Assistant Medical Officer to the hospital and John P.
Steel, M.D. Edinburgh was Assistant Medical Officer.
1930 First edition Psychopathology. A survey of modern
approaches London, 1930 by
John Ernest Nicole.
F.M. Rodgers was Medical Superintendent in 19361936 Benedict Finkleman (1906-1966) joined the staff of Winwick.
He moved to Rainhill in
1946, so it is not clear if he was at Winwick when Gwyn and Kathleen Jones
arrived.
Late 1940s to 1955 Gwyn Jones (ex-army) and
Kathleen Jones (his wife, wanted to "do something useful in a
mental hospital setting". He was appointed chaplain at Winwick. "It was a
huge hospital of over 3000 beds, like a small town. It had its own
fire-engine and its own farm. It was very hierarchical. The medical
superintendent had the largest house, with a long corridor connecting it to
his office, so that he need not talk to anyone on the way. We had the next
largest house, because under the 1890 Lunacy Act, the chaplain was
designated as the second officer of the hospital. The salary did not match
the status - we could not even afford to curtain all the windows. Then came
the Residences: for the deputy medical superintendent, the hospital
secretary (who had not yet given himself a grander title) and the engineer.
After that, the Villas came next in the pecking order, then the Houses; and
the patients came last. That worried us"
John Ernest Nicole
was medical superintendent. Kathleen
Jones said: "He was very progressive for the time. Everything
was therapy. We had music therapy, sports
therapy, education therapy, work therapy, social
therapy... hymn singing therapy".
Jones and Kennedy 1996
1951 Kathleen Jones appointed a research assistant at the
University of Manchester.
1960 Kathleen Jones dedicated
Mental Health and Social Policy 1845-1959 "for Nick and
Mrs Nick, in affection"
5.1.1963
John Ernest Nicole of 17 Buckingham Mansions, Bath Road,
Bournemouth, died, leaving £7,203.14s. Probate to Ethel May Nicole
widow.
Winwick Hospital closed in March 1997 after celebrating its
hundredth
birthday.
(external weblinkarchive). The hospital was
demolished. Its "tower" was to have been preserved, but was also
demolished. The Winwick Tower was a famous landmark, and could be seen from
the Thelwall Viaduct coming north on the M6 (Nigel Roberts)
Patients
came from Liverpool, Southport and Formby, as well as the Warrington
district. The 1986 Guiness Book of Records has it as the largest hospital
of any kind in England, with 1,352 staffed beds. Previously it had been
Europe's largest mental institution, with more than 2,000 patients.
Records are held at both Cheshire and Lancashire record offices, with
Cheshire holding details of plans of the building
Winwick Hospital remembered

Maghull, Liverpool

"In 1780 a new Maghull Manor was built near the site of the original, this
handsome building still stands preserved in the tranquil grounds of the
epileptic colony"
(external link)

"When it was founded in
1888, the Home for
Epileptics,
Maghull was the first such specialist care centre in England...
ParkHaven Trust is situated in extensive grounds... within walking
distance of... Maghull, a bustling suburb of Liverpool"
(external link)(map)

Moss Side (Maghull, Liverpool)
Built in the 1830's by the Merchant Harrison family. Sold in
1872 (when Thomas Harrison died) to the
Liverpool Select
VestryFirst used as a convalescent home for children from the Liverpool
workhouses
1878
plans being prepared to turn it into accommodation for 60
men and 120 women of
"the epileptic harmless lunatic type", but these were
not finalised until about 1908About
1908, plans for a new 300-patient hospital. Building began
in
1911 [Peter Barham says that Moss Side was "built upon
the
villa pattern"
July 1914
the whole estate (a large country house, two farms and
a large unfinished hospital) sold to the
Board of
Control, which intended to use the hospital as a
State InstitutionDecember 1914 Board of Control handed over to the military
authorities. (Barham p.44)
Used as a Military Hospital: the Military Red Cross Hospital, Moss
Side, treating
shell
shock. Also known as Maghull Military War Hospital7.12.1914 "received 20 shell-shocked
patients - the first of 3,500 to be treated there during and after the
war."
"Major Ronald Rows and his team at Maghull Hospital" (Barham p.85)
"All nurses were members of the Red Cross and wore that organisation's
uniform but in July 1915 all the male staff were enlisted into the Royal
Army Medical Corps. As the war continued more men were urgently needed at
the front so in 1918 the hospital was urged to use women to the fullest
possible extent to release men for the war effort. To ease the staff
crisis, and for its therapeutic value, some patients were allowed to work
on the hospital farm and were paid 2d per hour."
(Ashworth historyFebruary 1915 Ernest Mantle transferred from
Netley. Considered fit to return to light duties after a few
weeks (Barham
p.54)
1920
closed as a military hospital, but requisitioned by the
Ministry of Pensions, it continued to treat soldiers.

Not clear Moss Side became a high security hospital for mentally
deficiency, but the Butler Report paragraph 2.2 suggests "provided in
1930s", and the 1934 Report of the Board of Control has
Moss Side
State
Institution listed (see
Bob Hayes site1946 National Health Service
Act section 49(4) moved the ownership of Rampton
and Moss Side to the
Ministry of Health but left their management with the Board of Control.
Ashworth History (above): "Moss Side, along with its sister
institutions of Broadmoor, Rampton and Carstairs [Scotland], became
hospitals in
July 1948
with the creation of the National Health Service" [This is not correct
respecting "Broadmoor Institution"]
about 1954 Several
Rampton patients, including
Noele Arden, moved to
Moss Side. "It is much smaller than Rampton, having only three wards for
women. Also it has no high walls around it, and no bars on windows, and no
dreaded isolation block... I... was soon in trouble and put in a room and
drugged. However, not a hand was laid on me, and all the time I was there,
I saw no ill-treatment in any form... they were a bit heavy-handed with the
dope." (Noele Arden
1977 p. 64)
1957:See Percy
Report1959 Mental Health Act